THE 

MEDICAL 

AND 

SURGICAL 

KNOWLEDGI 


WILLIAM 
SHAKSPERE 


WAINWRIGHT 


LIBRARY 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


Class 


THE 

MEDICAL  AND   SURGICAL  KNOWLEDGE 
OF  WILLIAM  SHAKSPERE 


AUTHOR'S    EDITION 

This  is  the  Author's  Edition,  limited  to  two 
hundred  registered  and  numbered  copies,  of 
which  this  copy  is 


"Believe  me,  I  speak  as  my  under- 
standing instructs  me,  and  as  my 
honesty  puts  it  to  utterance" 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 

->RN\^ 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


HP  HE  firsi  t<  of  Shakspere's  plays  was  c ... 

b-«  •  theatrical  colleague*,  Hemi  v 

in  1623,  in  wb<ck  vs<i\  Deluded  an  engraving  of  the  au: 
artist.  Ben  Jonson,  who  wai  Shakspei; 

dared  the  engraving  to  be  an  acc. 
ness-  gWy.     It  was  at  that  time  ac 

-al  painting  from  which  this  engraving  wa* 

•?ared  and  remained  in  obscurity  until  1892,  whea  Mr. 

r,  of  Stra  lord  -on- Avon,  discovered  in  the  possession 

,  ac  Pcckham  Rye,  a  portrait  which  so  much  n  MMlfJii 
that  c  -.ving  mentioned  as  having  appeared  in  the  fo 

leave  no  doubt  but  that  it  was  the  original.     The  p ' 

and  worm  eaten,  but,   without  question,  dated    fro; 
ginning  of  the  seventeenth  century.      It  had  been  painted  on  a  p*xu-l, 
made  by  joining  two  pieces  of  elm  wood,  and  in  the  upp.. 
corner  was  the  inscription,  William  Shakspere,  1609. 

Mr.  Clements  had  purchased  the  portrait  from  an  obscure  <tater 
in  1840,  but,  knowing  nothing  of  its  history  except  what  w."^ 
a  slip  of  paper  when  he  made  the  purchase,  he  pasted  on 
which  the  portrait  was  shipped  the  following:  "The  origin 
of  Shakspere  from  which  the  Droeshout  engraving  was  made  a 
sertcd  in  the  first  collected  edition  of  his  worka|  pub]*- 
being  seven  years  after  his  death.     The  picture  was    pabittd  sever. 
years  before  the  death  of  Shakspere  and  consequent!} 
before  the  engraving  was  published."     This  portrait  wa<  pui>i* 
hibited  in  London,  where  thousands  inspected  it.     In  a 
portrait  is  identical  with  the  engraving. 

There  seems  good  grounds  for  believing  tl 
one  of  Shakspere,   painted  during  his  lifetime,   v 
rears  of  age,  and  the  only  one  painted  during  1- 

Upon  the  death  of  Mr.  Clements  in  i  v 

chased  by  Mrs.  Charles  Flower  and  pre  c  .?  Memorial  Pictwrw 

Gallery  at  Stratford,  where  it  now  har 

The  photogravure  contained  in  this  vc5u  v :     *   torn  a 
of  the  original:  no  attempt  has  been  made  u  rr»u 
left  as  it  now  appears.     The  natu 
it  was  painted  is  clearly  shown. 


HP  HE  first  folio  edition  of  Shakspere's  plays  was  edited  and  issued 
by  two  of  Shakspere's  theatrical  colleagues,  Heming  and  Condell, 
in  1623,  in  which  was  included  an  engraving  of  the  author  by  a  young 
artist,  Martin  Droeshout.  Ben  Jonson,  who  was  Shakspere's  intimate 
friend  and  companion,  declared  the  engraving  to  be  an  accurate  like- 
ness— in  fact,  praised  it  highly.  It  was  at  that  time  accepted  as  a  good 
portrait.  The  original  painting  from  which  this  engraving  was  made 
disappeared  and  remained  in  obscurity  until  1892,  when  Mr.  Edgar 
Flower,  of  Stratford-on-Avon,  discovered  in  the  possession  of  a  Mr. 
H.  C.  Clements,  at  Peckham  Rye,  a  portrait  which  so  much  resembles 
that  of  the  engraving  mentioned  as  having  appeared  in  the  folio  edition, 
as  to  leave  no  doubt  but  that  it  was  the  original.  The  portrait  was 
faded  and  worm  eaten,  but,  without  question,  dated  from  the  be- 
ginning of  the  seventeenth  century.  It  had  been  painted  on  a  panel, 
made  by  joining  two  pieces  of  elm  wood,  and  in  the  upper  left-hand 
corner  was  the  inscription,  William  Shakspere,  1609. 

Mr.  Clements  had  purchased  the  portrait  from  an  obscure  dealer 
in  1840,  but,  knowing  nothing  of  its  history  except  what  was  noted  on 
a  slip  of  paper  when  he  made  the  purchase,  he  pasted  on  the  box  in 
which  the  portrait  was  shipped  the  following:  "  The  original  portrait 
of  Shakspere  from  which  the  Droeshout  engraving  was  made  and  in- 
serted in  the  first  collected  edition  of  his  works,  published  in  1623, 
being  seven  years  after  his  death.  The  picture  was  painted  seven 
years  before  the  death  of  Shakspere  and  consequently  fourteen  years 
before  the  engraving  was  published."  This  portrait  was  publicly  ex- 
hibited in  London,  where  thousands  inspected  it.  In  all  the  details,  the 
portrait  is  identical  with  the  engraving. 

There  seems  good  grounds  for  believing  this  portrait,  therefore, 
one  of  Shakspere,  painted  during  his  lifetime,  when  about  fifty-five 
years  of  age,  and  the  only  one  painted  during  his  lifetime  known  to 
exist. 

Upon  the  death  of  Mr.  Clements  in  1895,  the  portrait  was  pur- 
chased by  Mrs.  Charles  Flower  and  presented  to  the  Memorial  Picture 
Gallery  at  Stratford,  where  it  now  hangs. 

The  photogravure  contained  in  this  volume  is  from  a  photograph 
of  the  original:  no  attempt  has  been  made  to  restore  it,  but  it  has  been 
left  as  it  now  appears.  The  natural  decay  of  the  wood  upon  which 
it  was  painted  is  clearly  shown. 


THE 

MEDICAL  AND  SURGICAL 
KNOWLEDGE 

OF 

WILLIAM  SHAKSPERE 

With  Explanatory  Notes 


JOHN  W.  WAINWRIGHT,  M.D. 


OF  THE 

(    UNIVERSITY  J 


NEW  YORK 
PUBLISHED  B  Y  THE  A  UTHOR 

1907 


GENERAL 


Copyright,  1906 
BY  JOHN  IV.   WAINWRIGHT,   M.  D. 


To  Her,  my  companion  for  fifteen  years ;  my 
inspiration,  my  critic ;  whose  irreparable  loss 
is  accentuated  from  year  to  year,  this  small 
volume  is  dedicated  with  a  continued  and 
growing  affection,  by  him  whom  she  Loved 
the  best  of  all. 

THE  AUTHOR 


187738 


OF  THE 

(    UNIVERSITY  ] 

OF 


FOREWORD 

The  knowledge  of  science,  art  and  literature  displayed  in 
Shakspere's  works  has  been  the  theme  for  many  essays.  Perhaps 
no  other  work  has  received  so  much  attention  from  scholars,  and 
if  words  were  alone  necessary  to  determine  his  rank  among  poets 
and  dramatists  certainly  nothing  further  need  be  said. 

Of  the  biographies,  reviews,  essays  and  criticisms  there  is  no 
end.  We  are  content  to  leave  these,  however,  to  such  illustrious 
writers  as  Johnson,  Spencer,  Coleridge,  Dowden,  Malone,  Hazlitt, 
Collier,  Mrs.  Jamison  and  others,  ourselves  directing  the  readers' 
attention  to  the  many  evidences  presented  of  his  knowledge  of 
medicine  and  its  collateral  branches.  Much  threshing  discloses 
the  perfect  grain,  and  perchance  we  may  be  so  fortunate  as  to 
help  make  clear  to  the  occasional  reader  of  Shakspere  references 
obscure  or  not  otherwise  observed. 

The  quotations  given  will  occasionally  differ  from  those  con- 
tained in  the  expurgated  or  stage  editions  so  commonly  made  use 
of,  while  others  will  appear  which  are  not  familiar  perhaps  to  the 
reader.  They  have  been  taken  from  an  edition  in  the  writer's  pos- 
session printed  in  1796  by  Bellamy  and  Roberts,  London,  now 
unfortunately  out  of  print,  and  from  a  more  modern  one  by 
Charles  Knight,  both  of  which  give  the  plays  as  they  appeared  in 
the  "original  copies  of  the  first  folio  edition  of  1623.'' 

Let  it  be  understood  that  all  the  references  relating  to  medi- 
cine are  by  no  means  given,  but  only  such  as  are  of  greater  interest. 
In  some  instances  the  meaning  may  seem  obscure.  Then  matter 
is  introduced  which  cannot  be  considered  strictly  medical,  to 
render  the  quotations  more  clear,  not  only  to  the  medical  man, 
but  to  the  layman  into  whose  hands  the  book  may  come. 

If  the  writer  shall  succeed  in  helping  to  create  a  greater 
interest  in  the  writings  of  Shakspere  he  will  feel  amply  rewarded 
for  his  efforts,  a  labor  of  love. 


INTRODUCTION 

IT  would  be  out  of  place  in  such  a  work  as  this  to  give  but  a 
brief  outline  of  what  is  known  as  Shakspere's  life.  I  refer  those 
in  search  of  such  information  to  the  numerous  works  giving,  most 
of  them,  a  so-called  "Life  of  Shakspere." 

Briefly,  he  attended  a  grammar  school  until  fourteen  years 
of  age;  from  that  age  to  eighteen  we  know  nothing  of  his  life. 
It  is  as  reasonable,  however,  to  believe  that  he  was  actively 
engaged  in  improving  his  mind,  as  it  is  that  he  was  less  honorably 
employed.  His  later  achievements  bear  out  this  belief,  for  the  mind 
that  conceived  the  works  bearing  his  name  could  never  have  been 
idle  or  otherwise  employed  than  in  the  acquisition  of  knowledge. 
Rowe's  history  of  Shakspere,  containing  assumptions  since  dis- 
proved, is  largely  responsible  for  the  uncomplimentary  sayings  and 
beliefs  which  have  found  place  in  the  minds  of  some.  Personal 
views  are  there  too  persistently  forced  upon  us.  In  the  absence 
of  well-authenticated  facts  we  are  not  warranted  in  assuming 
ill  of  one,  albeit  to  one  unprejudiced,  enough  is  known  to  establish 
our  Shakspere  as  entitled  to  a  full  measure  of  our  esteem,  love  and 
gratitude. 

Shakspere,  mentally,  was  the  master  of  all  time.  The  whole 
range  of  human  knowledge  and  passion  from  science,  anticipating 
research,  to  law  and  theology,  is  within  his  grasp.  He  portrays 
the  villainies  of  the  most  atrocious,  sounding  depths  amazing, 
equally  as  artistically  as  he  carries  us  up  and  up,  and  then  still 
farther  up,  that  we  may  view  the  noblest  characters  ever  painted 
by  man.  Each  character  is  made  perfect  and  sufficient,  the  pic- 
tures being  so  real,  that  they  assume  the  place  of  friends  in  real  life 
who,  perhaps,  have  passed  away  in  the  flesh,  but  whose  presence 
seemingly  remains  with  us.  We  have  Hamlet  and  Lear,  Ophelia 
and  Juliet,  as  well  as  lago,  Macbeth,  Richard  III.  and  King  John, 
the  alpha  and  omega  of  humanity.  Each  character,  as  I  have  said, 


SHAKSPERE  IN  MEDICINE. 


is  sufficient,  and  therein  we  stand  in  awe  with  hat  in  hand  before 
this  man  who  could  so  lose  himself  as  to  leave  no  trace  of  self. 
If  it  is,  as  I  believe  true,  that  an  individual  cannot  give  character 
to  another  without  having  the  essence  of  that  same  character  in 
himself,  then  what  prodigious  learning,  what  infinite  versatility! 
It  is  claimed  that  Shakspere  had  surely  studied  law  ;that  he  must 
have  been  a  close  student  of  theology ;  indeed,  an  academician,  to 
possess  such  knowledge  as  he  displays  of  mathematics,  astronomy 
and  literature.  We  may  with  equal  certainty  claim  that  he  had 
been  a  student  of  medicine,  and  yet  I  can  find  no  evidence  that  he 
ever  was.  It  is  reasonably  certain  that  he  was  accustomed  to  asso- 
ciate with  all  classes  of  men  and  women ;  that  he  was  a  keen  ob- 
server, had  an  exceptionally  retentive  memory,  sought  knowledge 
from  whatever  source,  could  intuitively  grasp  a  thought  and  put  it 
to  immediate  use,  mentally  finish  what  was  only  begun  by  others. 
All  people  with  whom  he  came  in  contact  contributed  to  his  knowl- 
edge, unconsciously,  perhaps,  more  often  than  otherwise.  He 
learned  from  all  stations  of  life,  from  the  Court  to  the  gutter. 

Regarding  the  spelling  of  the  Master's  name  as  used  in  this 
volume,  I  have  only  to  quote  as  follows  from  Knight's  Life  of 
Shakspere : 

"Malone  in  his  'Inquiry/  published  in  1796,  makes  the 
following  confession:  'In  the  year  1776  Mr.  Steevens,  in  my 
presence,  traced  with  the  utmost  accuracy  the  three  signatures 
afiixed  by  the  poet  to  his  will.  While  two  of  these  manifestly 
appeared  to  us  Shakspere,  we  conceived  that  in  the  third  there 
was  a  variation,  and  that  in  the  second  syllable  an  a  was  found. 
Accordingly  we  have  constantly  so  exhibited  the  poet's  name  ever 
since  that  time.  It  ought  certainly  to  have  struck  us  as  a  very 
extraordinary  circumstance,  that  a  man  should  write  his  name 
twice  one  way,  and  once  another,  on  the  same  paper ;  however,  it 
did  not;  and  I  had  no  suspicion  of  our  mistake  till,  about  three 
years  ago,  I  received  a  very  sensible  letter  from  an  anonymous 
correspondent,  who  showed  me  very  clearly  that,  though  there 
was  a  superfluous  stroke  where  the  poet  came  to  write  the  letter 
r  in  his  last  signature — probably  from  the  tremor  of  his  hand — 
there  was  no  a  discoverable  in  that  syllable ;  and  that  his  name, 
like  both  the  others,  was  written  'Shakspere.' "  Revolving  this 
matter  in  my  mind,  it  occurred  to  me,  that  in  the  new  facsimile  of 


SHAKSPERE  IN  MEDICINE. 


his  name  which  I  gave  in  1790,  my  engraver  had  made  a  mistake 
in  placing  an  a  over  the  name  which  was  there  exhibited,  and  that 
what  was  supposed  to  be  that  letter  was  only  a  mark  of  abbrevia- 
tion, with  a  turn  curl  at  the  first  part  of  it,  which  gave  it  the 
appearance  of  a  letter. 

If  Mr.  Steevens  and  I  had  maliciously  intended  to  lay  a  trap 
for  this  fabricator  to  fall  into,  we  could  not  have  done  the  business 
more  adroitly.  The  new  facsimile  continued  to  be  given  with  an 
a  over  the  name  in  subsequent  editions.  It  was  taken  from  the 
mortgage  deed  executed  by  Shakspere  on  the  nth  of  March,  1613. 
Malone  continues : 

"  Notwithstanding  this,  I  shall  continue  to  write  our  poet's 
name  Shakspere.  But  whether  I  am  doing  right  or  wrong,  it 
is  manifest  that  he  wrote  it  himself  Shakspere." 

An  autograph  was  found  in  a  small  folio  volume,  the  first 
edition  of  Florio's  translation  of  Montaigne,  and  purchased  at 
auction  in  1838  by  the  British  Museum,  in  which  the  poet  had 
written  his  name  Shakspere. 


CONTENTS 

Page 

Medicine      -  2 

Surgery    -  22 

Mental  and  Nervous  Diseases  33 

Obstetrics  and  Midwifery  41 

Therapeutics,  Pharmacy  and  Toxicology  -       47 

Anatomy  -                                 60 

Physiology  -        61 

Hygiene  and  Dietetics        -  72 

Ethics                                -                    _          -  -          *         -        76 

Medical  Jurisprudence                   -         -  -                 .   -            77 


THE  MEDICAL  AND  SURGICAL 
KNOWLEDGE  OF  WILLIAM  SHAKSPERE 


Caliban.    All  the  infections  that  the  sun  sucks  up 

From  bogs,  fens,  flats,  on  Prosper  fall,  and  make  him 
By  inch-meal  a  disease. 

—Tempest,  Act.  II.,  Sc.  2. 

"By  inch-meal  a  disease"  is  rather  a  severe  penalty  to  be  invoked 
on  Prosper  for  displeasing  Caliban.  This  passage  shows 
that  the  Master  was  familiar  with  the  malarial  cachexia, 
which  so  insidiously  takes  possession  of  those  exposed. 

Stephana.  This  is  some  monster  of  the  isle,  with  four  legs ;  who  hath 
got,  as  I  take  it,  an  ague :  Where  the  devil  should  he  learn  our  language  ? 
I  will  give  him  some  relief,  if  it  be  but  for  that:  If  I  can  recover  him  and 
keep  him  tame,  and  get  to  Naples  with  him,  he's  a  present  for  any  emperor 
that  ever  trod  on  neat's-leather. 

—Tempest,  Act.  II.,  Sc.  2. 

Shakspere  gives  many  references  to  malaria  or  ague  and  to  the 
various  stages  or  phases  of  the  disease.  In  the  above  quota- 
tion we  have  delirium  accompanying  the  fever. 


Patroclus.  O,  then  beware ; 

Those  wounds  heal  ill  that  men  do  give  themselves : 

Omission  to  do  what  is  necessary 

Seals  a  commission  to  a  blank  of  danger; 

And  danger,  like  an  ague,  subtly  taints 

Even  then  when  we  sit  idly  in  the  sun. 

— Troilus  and  Cressida,  Act  III.,  Sc.  3. 

It  is  well  known  that  those  suffering  from  malaria  can  bring  on 
a  chill  by  sitting  in  the  sun. 


SHAKSPERE  IN  MEDICINE. 


Constance.    But  now  will  canker  sorrow  eat  my  bud, 

And  chase  the  native  beauty  from  his  cheek, 
And  he  will  look  as  hollow  as  a  ghost, 
As  dim  and  meagre  as  an  ague's  fit ; 

And  so  he'll  die ; 

******** 

Grief  fills  the  room  up  of  my  absent  child. 


Pandulph.    Before  the  curing  of  a  strong  disease, 

Even  in  the  instant  of  repair  and  health, 
The  fit  is  strongest. 

— King  John,  Act  II.,  Sc.  4- 


Mistress  Overdone.    Thus,  what  with  the  war,  what  with  the  sweat, 
What  with  the  gallows,  and  what  with  poverty, 
I  am  Custom-shrunk. 

— Measure  for  Measure,  Act  I.,  Sc.  2. 

Sweating  sickness,  the  ague  with  which  there  is  usually  much 
sweating  after  the  fever. 

Macbeth.    Hang  out  our  banners  on  the  outward  walls ; 

The  cry  is  still  "They  come."    Our  castle's  strength 
Will  laugh  a  siege  to  scorn :  here  let  them  lie, 
Till  famine,  and  the  ague,  eat  them  up. 

—Macbeth,  Act  V.,  Sc.  5. 

The  besiegers  were  evidently  in  a  malarious  country  and  unpro- 
tected from  the  source  of  infection.  By  prolonging  the  siege 
the  besiegers  would  become  fever  stricken,  lose  strength  and 
be  unable  to  successfully  attack  the  castle. 

Rosalind.    ,  for  he  seems  to  have  the  quotidian  of  love  upon 

him. 

— As  You  Like  It,  Act  III.,  Sc.  2. 


Mrs.  Quickly.  As  ever  you  came  of  women,  come  in  quickly  to  Sir 
John :  Ah,  poor  heart !  he  is  so  shaked  of  a  burning  fever,  quotidian  tertian, 
that  it  is  most  lamentable  to  behold. 


Pistol.    His  heart  is  fracted  and  corroborate. 

— King  Henry  Fifth,  Act  II.,  Sc.  i. 
3 


SHAKSPERE  IN   MEDICINE. 


The  Hostess  (formely  Mistress  Quickly,  now  wife  to  Pistol)  gets 
rather  mixed  in  her  description  of  Sir  John's  (Falstaff's) 
illness.  She  jumbles  together  quotidian  and  tertian  in  utter 
ignorance  of  their  meaning.  However,  it  would  seem  that 
Sir  John  was  suffering  from  malarial  fever,  for  just  previous 
to  this  appeal  for  help  the  boy  conjures  Bardolph  to  "put  his 
face  between  his  sheets  and  do  the  office  of  a  warming 
pan"  (Sir  John  was  having  a  chili),  while  now  he  is  "shaked 
of  a  burning"  (fever). 

"Fracted"  means  broken.  The  word  is  also  used  in  this  sense  in 
"Timon  of  Athens."  I  am  at  a  loss  to  find  a  meaning  in  this 
connection  for  "corroborate." 

Mrs.  Quickly.  'A  made  a  finer  end  and  went  away  an  it  had  been  any 
christom  child ;  'a  parted  even  j  ust  between  twelve  and  one,  e'en  at  turning 
o'  the  tide;  for  after  I  saw  him  fumble  with  the  sheets,  and  play  with 
flowers,  and  smile  upon  his  fingers'  ends,  I  knew  there  was  but  one  way; 
for  his  nose  was  as  sharp  as  a  pen,  and  'a  babbled  of  green  fields. 

************* 

So  'a  bade  me  lay  more  clothes  on  his  feet ;  I  put  my  hand  into  the  bed  and 
felt  them,  and  they  were  as  cold  as  any  stone ;  then  I  felt  to  his  knees,  and 
so  upward  and  upward,  and  all  was  as  cold  as  any  stone. 

— King  Henry  Fifth,  Act  11.,  Sc.  3. 

We  are  to  understand  "finer  end"  to  mean  fine  end.  Christom 
refers  to  the  custom  of  placing  upon  children  a  white  vesture 
to  be  worn  for  a  month  after  baptism.  There  was,  in  olden 
times,  the  belief  that  no  one  died  excepting  at  ebbtide.  The 
fumbling  with  the  sheets,  playing  with  flowers,  and  babbling 
of  green  fields  sounds  much  like  the  status  typhosus,  although 
the  Hostess  declared  that  Sir  John  (Falstaff)  "is  so  shaked 
of  a  burning  fever,  quotidian  tertian,"  etc. ;  but  her  diagnosis 
should  not  count  for  much. 

Biron.    A  fever  in  your  blood !  why,  then  incision 
Would  let  her  out  in  saucers ; — 

—Love's  Labor  Lost,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  .?. 

All  medical  men  will  know  that  bleeding  for  fevers  was  univer- 
sally practiced  until  within  recent  years,  and  was  accepted 
and  largely  made  use  of  in  Shakspere's  time.  In  addition  to 
the  depletion  from  bleeding,  the  poor  patient  with  fever  must 
also  be  starved. 

4 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF  # 


.  .\ ' 


SHAKSPERE  IN  MEDICINE. 


Lennox.     Clamor'd    the    live-long    night:    some    say    the    earth    was 
feverous  and  did  shake. 

—Macbeth,  Act  II. ,  Sc.  3. 


Antony.    The  white  hand  of  a  lady  fever  thee, 
Shake  thou  to  look  on't. 

— Antony  and  Cleopatra,  Act  III.,  Sc.  3. 

Raise  of  bodily  temperature  from  emotion  or  embarrassment. 


Troilus.    Even  such  a  passion  doth  embrace  my  bosom : 
My  heart  beats  quicker  than  a  feverous  pulse; 

— Troilus  and  Cressida,  Act  III.,  Sc.  2. 

Acceleration  of  the  pulse  which  accompanies  fever. 


Timon.    .     Plagues  incident  to  men, 

Your  potent  and  infectious  fevers  heap 
On  Athens,  ripe  for  stroke!  thou  cold  sciatica 
Cripple  our  senators,  that  their  limbs  may  halt 
As  lamely  as  their  manners !  lust  and  liberty 
Creep  in  the  minds  and  marrows  of  our  youth ; 
That  'gainst  the  stream  of  virtue  they  may  strive, 
And  drown  themselves  in  riot!     Itches,  blains, 
Sow  all  the  Athenian  bosoms;  and  their  crop 
Be  general  leprosy!     Breath  infect  breath; 
That  their  society,  as  their  friendship,  may  be  merely  poison ! 
— Timon  of  Athens,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  i. 

Timon  is  hardly  less  an  adept  than  Thersites  in  curses,  while  his 
supply  of  ills  is  most  marvellous.  Here  is  imagination  run 
wild.  Place  beside  this  quotation  the  frightful  material  with 
which  the  witches  compound  their  broth  (Macbeth,  Act  IV., 
Sc.  i)  and  one  is  amazed. 


Scarus.    On  our  side,  like  the  token'd  pestilence 
When  death  is  sure. 

— Antony  and  Cleopatra,  Act  III.,  Sc.  8. 

I  believe  the  Master  here  refers  to  what  is  known  as  the  bubonic 
plague. 

5 


SHAKSPERE  IN   MEDICINE. 


Caius  Marcius.    All  the  contagion  of  the  south  light  on  you, 

You  shames  of  Rome ! — you  herd  of — Boils  and  plagues 
Plaster  you  o'er;  that  you  may  be  abhorr'd 
Further  than  seen,  and  one  infect  another 
Against  the  wind  a  mile!    You  souls  of  geese 
That  bear  the  shapes  of  men, — 

— Coriolanus,  Act  I.,  Sc.  4. 

Contagious  diseases  are  still  thought  to  emanate  from  the  south, 
i.e.,  near  the  equator. 


Volumnia.    Now  the  red  pestilence  strike  all  trades  in  Rome 
And  occupation  perish! 

— Coriolanus,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  i. 

The  red  pestilence  or  typhus  fever. 


Caliban.    You  taught  me  language ;  and  my  profit  on't 

Is,  I  know  how  to  curse :   The  red  plague  rid  you, 
For  learning  me  your  language ! 

—Tempest,  Act  L,  Sc.  2. 

Typhus  fever  or  the  red-plague  is  known  to  have  been  common  in 
England  as  well  as  in  France  during  Shakspere's  time.  In 
France  it  was  called  La  pourpre,  the  red  plague,  from  the 
eruption  which  accompanies  the  disease. 


Biron.      Thus  pour  the  stars  down  plagues  for  perj  ury. 

—Love's  Labor  Lost,  Act  V.,  Sc.  2. 

The  stars  in  Shakspere's  time  and  earlier  were  thought  to  influ- 
ence plagues  and  epidemics. 


King  Henry.    And  draw  their  honours  reeking  up  to  heaven ; 
Leaving  their  earthly  parts  to  choke  your  clime, 
The  smell  whereof  shall  breed  a  plague  in  France. 

— King  Henry  Fifth,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  3. 

This  is  a  very  severe  arraignment  of  the  honor  of  the  French 
people — that  it  was  no  more  than  vapor  to  be  "drawn  reeking" 
into  the  atmosphere.  The  last  two  lines  need  no  comment. 

6 


SHAKSPERE  IN   MEDICINE. 


Adrian.      The  air  breathes  upon  us  here  most  sweetly. 


Sebastian.    As  if  it  had  lungs,  and  rotten  ones. 

—Tempest,  Act  II. ,  Sc.  i. 


King.    ;   The  rest  have  worn  me  out 

With  several  applications ; — nature  and  sickness 
Debate  it  at  their  leisure. 

—All's  Well  That  Ends  Well,  Act  L,  Sc.  2. 

Carefully  noting  the  whole  of  this  scene  the  reader  will  find  that 
the  King  was  suffering  from  emphysema. 


Coriolanus.  How !  no  more  ? 

As  for  my  country  I  have  shed  my  blood, 
Not  fearing  outward  force,  so  shall  my  lungs 
Coin  words  'till  their  decay,  against  these  measles, 
Which  we  disdain  should  tetter  us,  yet  sought 
The  very  way  to  catch  them. 

— Coriolanus,  Act  III.,  Sc.  J. 

I  do  not  doubt  that  the  measles  here  referred  to  was  identical  with 
the  disease  as  it  prevails  to-day.  The  reader  will  note  that 
infection  was  recognized. 


Gonsalo.    There    were    mountaineers,    dew-lapp'd    like    bulls,    whose 
throats  had  hanging  at  them  wallets  of  flesh. 

—Tempest,  Act  HI.,  Sc.  3. 

This  is  unmistakable  reference  to  goiter  and  its  prevalence  in 
those  who  dwell  in  mountainous  regions. 


Page.    And  youthful  still,  in  your  doublet  and  hose,  this  raw  rheu- 
matic day. 

— Merry  Wives  of  Windsor,  Act  III.,  Sc.  2. 


Rosalind.  With  a  priest  that  lacks  latin,  and  a  nch  man  that  hath 
not  the  gout:  for  the  one  sleeps  easily,  because  he  cannot  study;  and  the 
other  lives  merrily,  because  he  feels  no  pain. 

— As  You  Like  It,  Act  III.,  Sc.  2. 
7 


SHAKSPERE  IN   MEDICINE. 


Posthumus.  Yet  am  I  better 

Than  one  that's  sick  o'  the  gout:  since  he  had  rather 

Groan  so  in  perpetuity,  than  be  cur'd 

By  the  sure  physician,  death,  who  is  the  key 

To  unbar  these  locks. 

—  Cymbeline,  Act  V., 


Gout.     Who  is  the  sure  physician  that  can  cure  this  malady? 
Death  is  yet  the  only  cure. 


Falstaff.  A  man  can  no  more  separate  age  and  covetousness,  than  he 
can  part  young  limbs  and  leechery:  but  the  gout  galls  the  one,  and  the  pox 
pinches  the  other. 

—  Part  Second,  King  Henry  Fourth,  Act  I.,  Sc.  2. 


Falstaff.  I  can  get  no  remedy  against  this  consumption  of  the  purse: 
borrowing  only  lingers  and  lingers  it  out,  but  the  disease  is  incurable.  *  *  * 
A  pox  of  this  gout !  or,  a  gout  of  this  pox !  for  the  one,  or  the  other  plays 
the  rogue  with  my  great  toe.  It  is  no  matter  if  I  do  halt ;  I  have  the  wars 
for  my  color,  and  my  pension  shall  seem  the  more  reasonable.  A  good 
wit  will  make  use  of  anything;  I  will  turn  diseases  to  commodity. 

— Part  Second,  King  Henry  Fourth,  Act  L,  Sc.  2. 


Malcolm.     Comes  the  King  forth,  I  pray  you? 


Doctor.    Ay,  Sir :  there  are  a  crew  of  wretched  souls 
That  stay  his  cure :  their  malady  convinces 
The  great  assay  of  art ;  but,  at  his  touch, 
Such  sanctity  hath  heaven  given  his  hand, 
They  presently  amend. 


Macduff.    What's  the  disease  he  means? 


Malcolm.  'Tis  call'd  the  evil  : 

A  most  miraculous  work  in  this  good  king: 
Which  often,  since  my  here-remain  in  England, 
I  have  seen  him  do.    How  he  solicits  heaven, 
Himself  best  knows :  but  strangely-visited  people, 
All  swoln  and  ulcerous,  pitiful  to  the  eye, 
The  mere  despair  of  surgery,  he  cures ; 
Hanging  a  golden  stamp  about  their  necks, 
Put  on  with  holy  prayers :  and  'tis  spoken, 
8 


SHAKSPERE  IN  MEDICINE. 


To  the  succeeding  royalty  he  leaves 

The  healing  benediction.     With  this  strange  virtue, 

He  hath  a  heavenly  gift  of  prophecy. 

—Macbeth,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  3- 

Scrofula  was  until  the  seventeenth  century  known  as  the  King's 
evil,  and  was  confidently  believed  to  be  cured  by  the  King's 
touch. 


Capulet.    Out,  you   green-sickness   Carrion!   out,  you   baggage!   you 
tallow-face. 

—Romeo  and  Juliet,  Act  III.,  Sc.  5. 


Enobarbus.    ;  and  Lepidus, 

Since  Pompey's  feast,  as  Menas  says,  is  troubled 
With  the  green  sickness. 

— Antony  and  Cleopatra,  Act  III.,  Sc.  2. 

Here  is  a  rare  case,  chlorosis  in  a  man. 


Viola.    :  She  never  told  her  love, 

But  let  concealment,  like  a  worm  i'  the  bud, 
Feed  on  her  damask  cheek:  she  pin'd  in  thought; 
And  with  a  green  and  yellow  melancholy, 
She  sat  like  patience  on  a  monument 
Smiling  at  grief.    Was  not  this  love  indeed? 

—Twelfth  Night,  Act  II. ,  Sc.  4- 

I  hardly  think  that  there  will  be  found  a  general  practicer  of  medi  - 
cine  who  will  not  connect  this  melancholy  of  Viola's  with 
digestive  trouble,  anemia,  chlorosis  and  a  train  of  functional 
disturbances  as  much  as  with  disappointed  love. 


Bardolph.    'Sblood.    I  would  my  face  were  in  your  belly ! 

Falstaff.    God-a-mercy!  so  should  I  be  sure  to  be  heart-burned. 

— Part  First,  King  Henry  Fourth,  Act  III.,  Sc.  3- 

Indigestion  accompanied  by  heart-burn. 

9 


SHAKSPERE   IN    MEDICINE. 


Beatrice.    How  tartly  that  gentleman  looks !    I  never  can  see  him  but 
I  am  heart-burned  an  hour  after. 

—Much  Ado  About  Nothing,  Act  II.,  Sc.  i. 

Hyperacidity  of  the  gastric  secretions  inducing  heart-burn. 


Agamemnon.    What  grief  hath  set  the  jaundice  on  your  cheeks? 

— Troilus  and  Cressida,  Act  L,  Sc.  3. 

This  reference  clearly  sets  forth  the  connection  between  melan- 
choly minds  and  affections  of  the  liver. 


Paulina.    I  say,  she's  dead :  I'll  swear  't,  if  word,  nor  oath 
Prevail  not,  go  and  see :  if  you  can  bring 
Tincture,  or  lustre,  in  her  lip,  her  eye, 
Heat  outwardly,  or  breath  within, — 

—Winter's  Tale,  Act  III.,  Sc.  2. 

It  is  quite  evident  that  the  queen  was  in  a  cataleptic  state  resulting 
from  hysteria  following  much  physical  and  mental  suffering. 


First  Servant.  Peace  is  a  very  apoplexy,  lethargy;  mulled,  deaf, 
sleepy,  insensible ;  a  getter  of  more  bastard  children  than  war's  a  destroyer 
of  men. 

— Coriolanus,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  5- 

Apoplexy  with  the  accompanying  objective  signs  or  symptoms. 


Falstaff.  I  heard  say,  your  lordship  was  sick.  I  hope  your  lordship 
goes  abroad  by  advice.  And  I  hear,  moreover,  his  highness  is  fallen  into 
this  same  whoreson  apoplexy.  This  apoplexy  is,  as  I  take  it,  a  kind  of 
lethargy, — a  sleeping  of  the  blood,  a  whoreson  tingling.  It  hath  its  original 
from  much  grief;  from  study,  and  perturbation  of  the  brain;  I  have  read 
the  cause  of  its  effects  in  Galen;  it  is  a  kind  of  deafness.  *  *  * 

I  am  as  poor  as  Job,  my  lord,  but  not  so  patient:  your  lordship  may 
minister  the  potion  of  imprisonment  to  me  in  respect  to  poverty;  but  how 
I  should  be  your  patient  to  follow  your  prescriptions,  the  wise  may  make 
some  dram  of  a  scruple,  or,  indeed,  a  scruple  itself.  *  *  * 

— Part  Second,  King  Henry  Fourth,  Act  L,  Sc.  2. 


Hamlet.    But,  sure,  that  sense 
Is  apoplexed. 

—Hamlet,  Act  III.,  Sc.  4- 
10 


SHAKSPERE   IN    MEDICINE. 


Prospero.     Go,  charge  my  goblins,  that  they  grind  their  joints 
With  dry  convulsions ;  shorten  up  their  sinews 
With  aged  cramps ;  and  more  pinch-spotted  make  them 
Than  pard  or  cat  o'mountain. 

—Tempest,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  i. 

Pard-a  leopard. 


Prospero.    For  this,  be  sure,  to-night  thou  shalt  have  cramps, 
Side-stitches  that  shall  pen  thy  breath  up;  urchins 
Shall,  for  that  vast  of  night  that  they  may  work, 
All  exercise  on  thee :  thou  shalt  be  pinch'd 
As  thick  as  honey-comb,  each  pinch  more  stinging 
Than  bees  that  made  them. 

—Tempest,  Act  L,  Sc.  2. 

Cramps  or  spasms  of  the  voluntary  muscles. 


Prospero.    If  thou  neglect'st  or  dost  unwillingly 

What  I  command,  I'll  rack  thee  with  old  cramps ; 
Fill  all  thy  bones  with  aches ;  make  thee  roar, 
That  beasts  shall  tremble  at  thy  din. 

— Tempest,  Act  L,  Sc.  *. 

Cramps  and  bone-aches. 

Lafeu.    To  be  relinquish'd  of  all  the  learned  authentic  fellows! 

Parolles.    So  I  say;  both  of  Galen  and  Paracelsus ! 

King.     Sit,  my  preserver,  by  thy  patient's  side. 

Where  great  additions  swell,  and  virtue  none. 
It  is  a  dropsied  honour. 

—All's  Well  That  Ends  Well,  Act  //.,  Sc.  3. 


Caliban.    The  dropsy  drown  this  fool ! 

—Tempest,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  i. 

Is  it  not  a  fact  that  one  suffering  from  a  dropsy  may  be  drowned 
in  the  fluid  as  well  as  that  one  may  bleed  to  death  in  his 
own  veins? 

II 


SHAKSPERE    IN    MEDICINE. 


Cains  Martins.  What's  the  matter,  you  dissentious  rogues, 
That,  rubbing  the  poor  itch  of  your  opinion, 
Make  yourselves  scabs? 

— Coriolanus,  Act  1.,  Sc.  i. 


Benvolio.    Take  thou  some  new  infection  to  the  eye, 
And  the  rank  poison  of  the  old  will  die. 

— Romeo  and  Juliet,  Act  I.,  Sc.  2. 

Here  is  unquestionably  an  allusion  to  the  antitoxic  effect  of  one 
septic  substance  when  brought  into  contact  with  another. 

The  possibilities  in  this  direction  were  known  centuries  before 
Shakspere's  time,  for  we  find  that  the  search  for  some  means 
to  not  only  bring  about  immunity,  but  the  application  of  one 
poison  to  counteract  another,  dates  back  to  Galen.  He 
relates  that  he  used  the  flesh  of  the  viper  as  an  antivenom, 
while  Mithridates  sought  to  fortify  himself  against  disease 
by  taking  the  then  known  antidotes,  as  well  as  experimenting 
upon  condemned  criminals,  finally  rendering,  we  are  told, 
both  himself  and  them  immune"  to  snake  bite  by  taking  the 
blood  of  animals  which  had  been  fed  upon  venomous  snakes : 
Andromachus,  physician  to  Nero,  as  well  as  other  notables, 
resorted  to  these  same  expedients.  Finally  Dioscorides  ad- 
vised those  bitten  by  mad  dogs  to  drink  the  blood  and  eat 
of  the  liver  of  the  animals  which  had  bitten  them. 


Lear.  O,  how  this  mother  swells  up  toward  my  heart ! 
Hysterica-passio!  down,  thou  climbing  sorrow, 
Thy  element's  below! 

—King  Lear,  Act  II.,  Sc.  4. 

Mother  or   Moother  was  in  ages  past  the  popular  name  for 
hysteria. 


Doctor.    You  see,  her  eyes  are  open. 


Gentlewoman.    Ay,  but  their  sense  is  shut. 

12 


SHAKSPERE   IN    MEDICINE. 


Doctor.    What  a  sign  is  there !  the  heart  is  sorely  charged. — 
This  disease  is  beyond  my  practice: — 
More  needs  she  the  divine  than  the  physician. 

—Macbeth,  Act  V.,  Sc.  I. 

A  case  of  somnambulism,  resulting,  in  Lady  Macbeth' s  case,  from 
a  sorely  troubled  mind  following  the  murder  of  the  king  by 
her  lord  and  with  her  help.  There  remained  the  smell  of 
blood  which  "All  the  perfumes  of  Arabia  could  not  sweeten." 


Paulina.    I  come  to  bring  him  sleep.    'Tis  such  as  you, — 
That  creep  like  shadows  by  him,  and  do  sigh 
At  each  his  needless  heavings, — such  as  you 
Nourish  the  cause  of  his  awaking. 

—Winter's  Tale,  Act  //.,  Sc.  3. 

Plainly  exhibited  sympathy  and  officious  attention  to  the  sick 
often  disturb  them  more  than  necessary  duties  performed  in 
a  direct  and  unhesitating  manner. 


King  Henry.    How  many  thousands  of  my  poorest  subjects 
Are  at  this  hour  asleep,  sleep,  gentle  sleep, 
Nature's  soft  nurse,  how  have  I  frighted  thee, 
That  thou  no  more  wilt  weigh  my  eye-lids  down 
And  steep  my  senses  in  forgetf ulness  ? 
Why,  rather,  sleep,  liest  thou  in  smoky  cribs, 
Upon  uneasy  pallets  stretching  thee, 
And  hush'd  with  buzzing  night-flies  to  thy  slumber, 
Than  in  the  perfumed  chambers  of  the  great, 
Under  the  canopies  of  costly  state, 
And  lulled  with  sounds  of  sweetest  melody? 
O  thou  dull  god,  why  liest  thou  with  the  vile 
In  loathsome  beds ;  and  leav'st  the  kingly  couch  ? 

********* 
Wilt  thou  upon  the  high  and  giddy  mast 
Seal  up  the  ship-boy's  eyes  and  rock  his  brains 
In  cradle  of  the  rude  imperious  surge? 

********* 

Canst  thou,  O  partial  sleep!  give  thy  repose 
To  the  wet  sea-boy  in  an  hour  so  rude; 
And  in  the  calmest  and  most  stillest  night, 
With  all  appliances  and  means  to  boot, 

13 


SHAKSPERE    IN    MEDICINE. 


Deny  it  to  a  king !    Then,  happy  low,  lie  down ! 
Uneasy  lies  the  head  that  wears  a  crown. 

—Part  Second,  King  Henry  Fourth,  Act  III.,  Sc.  r. 


Here  is  a  pronounced  case  of  insomnia. 


Desdemona.    For  let  our  finger  ache,  and  it  indues 

Our  other  healthful  members  ev'n  to  a  sense 
Of  pain: 

—Othello,  Act  III.,  Sc.  4. 

This  passage  refers  to  sympathetic  disturbances  and  to  the  influ- 
ence of  mind  on  the  body. 


King  Henry.    Then  you  perceive  the  body  of  our  kingdom, 
How  foul  it  is;  what  rank  diseases  grow, 
And  with  what  danger,  near  the  heart  of  it. 


Warwick.     It  is  but  as  a  body  yet  distempered, 

Which  to  his  former  strength  may  be  restored 
With  good  advice  and  little  medicine. 

—Part  Second,  King  Henry  Fourth,  Act  III.,  Sc.  /. 

Here  the  Master  shows  that  functional  disturbances  are  often 
remedied  "with  good  advice  and  little  medicine." 

Archbishop     :     We  are  all  diseased; 

of  And,  with  our  surfeiting  and  wanton  hours, 

York.  Have  brought  ourselves  into  a  burning  fever, 

And  we  must  bleed  for  it :  of  which  disease, 
Our  late  King,  Richard,  being  infected,  died. 
But  my  most  noble  lord  of  Westmoreland 
I  take  not  on  me  here  as  a  physician; 
Nor  do  I,  as  an  enemy  to  peace, 
Troop  in  the  throngs  of  military  men: 
But  rather  show  awhile  like  fearful  war, 
To  diet  rank  minds,  sick  of  happiness; 
And  purge  the  obstructions,  which  begin  to  stop 
Our  very  veins  of  life. 

— Part  Second,  King  Henry  Fourth,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  I. 

We  have  here  an  arraignment  of  the  social  pleasures  which  are 
so  surely  followed  by  a  train  of  disturbances  such  as  gout, 


SHAKSPERE  IN   MEDICINE. 


functional  disorders,  indigestion,  neuralgias,  anemias,  etc. 
Happily,  however,  we  are  not  now,  as  in  the  days  of  Shak- 
spere,  compelled  to  "bleed  for  it,"  but  we  suffer  nevertheless 
as  surely  as  did  those  of  whom  the  Archbishop  told. 


Constance.     For  I  am  sick,  and  capable  of  fears. 

— King  John,  Act  III.,  Sc.  i. 


Prince  Henry.  If  he  be  sick 

With  joy,  he  will  recover  without  physic. 

—Part  Second,  King  Henry  Fourth,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  4. 


Horatio.  think  of  it : 

(The  very  place  puts  toys  of  desperation, 
Without  more  motive,  into  every  brain, 
That  looks  so  many  fathoms  to  the  sea, 
And  hears  it  roar  beneath.) 

—Hamlet,  Act  I.,  Sc.  4. 

We  are  to  understand  the  quotation  to  refer  to  the  temptation  to 
cast  one's  self  from  a  height  when  contemplating  the  depths 
below. 


Edgar.     Come  on,  sir ;  here's  the  place  ! — Stand  still. — How  fearful 
And  dizzy  'tis,  to  cast  one's  eyes  so  low ! 

— King  Lear,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  6. 

Here  we  have  clearly  set  forth  the  influence  of  the  emotions  over 
the  body  as  well  as  the  will  or  mind.  Who  has  not  suffered 
fear  when  looking  from  a  great  height. 


Bassanio.    Madam,  you  have  bereft  me  of  all  words, 
Only  my  blood  speaks  to  you  in  my  veins : 

— Merchant  of  Venice,  Act  III.,  Sc.  2. 

This  quotation  shows  the  effect  of  emotional  excitement  on  the 
circulation. 

15 


SHAKSPERE  IN   MEDICINE. 


Gloster.     Pardon  me,  gracious  lord ; 

Some  sudden  qualm  hath  struck  me  at  the  heart, 
And  dimmed  mine  eyes;  that  I  can  read  no  further. 

— Part  Second,  King  Henry  Sixth,  Act  L,  Sc.  I. 

This  passage  sets  forth  in  unmistakable  force  the  effect  of  a 
sudden  emotion  on  the  vision. 


Isabella.  Darest  thou  die? 

The  sense  of  death  is  most  in  apprehension ; 
And  the  poor  beetle,  that  we  tread  upon, 
In  corporal  sufferance  finds  a  pang  as  great 
As  when  a  giant  dies. 

— Measure  for  Measure,  Act  HI.,  Sc.  I. 


Falstaff.  It  is  certain  that  either  wise  bearing  or  ignorant  carnage,  is 
caught  as  men  take  diseases,  one  of  another:  therefore,  let  men  take  heed 
of  their  company. 

—Part  Second,  King  Henry  Fourth,  Act  V.,  Sc.  I. 


Helena.     Sickness  is  catching;  O,  were  favor  so, 

Yours  would  I  catch,  fair  Hermia,  ere  I  go; 

— Midsummer  Night's  Dream,  Act  I.,  Sc.  I. 

Infection  is  here  acknowledged. 


Sands.     'Tis  time  to  give  them  physic,  their  diseases 
Are  grown  so  catching. 

— King  Henry  Eighth,  Act  I.,  Sc.  3. 


Queen  Margaret.     I  am  no  loathsome  leper,  look  on  me. 

—Part  Second,  King  Henry  Sixth,  Act  III.,  Sc.  2. 


Touchstone.     If  any  man  doubt  that,  let  him  put  me  to  my  purgation. 

—As  You  Like  It,  Act  V.,  Sc.  4. 

The  purgation  referred  to  by  Touchstone  is  evidently  in  a  legal 
sense.  To  purge  one's  self  by  oath  was,  and  is  yet,  practiced 
in  courts  of  law.  The  church  purges  itself  of  unworthy 
members  by  expelling  them. 

16 


SHAKSPERE  IN  MEDICINE. 


Macbeth.    What  rhubarb,  senna,  or  what  purgative  drug 
Would  scour  these  English  hence? 

—Macbeth,  Act  V,,  Sc.  3. 

King  Richard.    Let's  purge  this  choler  without  letting  blood; 
This  we  prescribe,  though  no  physician; 
Deep  malice  makes  too  deep  incision. 

— King  Richard  Second,  Act  L,  Sc.  I. 

lago.     Yet  again  your  fingers  to  your  lips  ?    Would  they  were  clyster- 
pipes  for  your  sake. 

—Othello,  Act  IL,  Sc.  i. 

Clyster- pipes  or  enema  containers.  Enemas  in  Shakspere's  time 
consisted  mainly  of  solutions  or  mixtures  of  aloes,  asafetida, 
epsom  salt,  opium,  tobacco  or  turpentine. 

Claudio.    The  miserable  have  no  other  medicine, 
But  only  hope: 

— Measure  for  Measure,  Act  III.,  Sc.  I. 

Hope,  what  would  we  do  or  be  without  hope?  Hope  that  buoys 
us  up  even  to  the  last.  There  is  no  sorrow,  no  pain,  even  in 
the  most  depressed,  those  suffering  with  incurable  disease, 
from  the  most  horrible  of  accidents  but  are  blessed  with 
hope.  It  belongs  to  the  pauper  as  well  as  the  prince ;  to  the 
diseased  as  well  as  those  in  perfect  health ;  to  those  on  beds 
of  pain  and  suffering  as  well  as  to  those  joyously  bent  upon 
pleasure;  to  the  forlorn  and  friendless  outcast  as  well  as  to 
him  who  receives  the  plaudits  alike  of  friend  and  sycophant. 
Blessed  is  hope,  for  it  is  ours  without  price  or  the  asking. 
More  blessed  to  the  miserable,  for  truly  such  have  no  other 
medicine,  but  only  hope. 

Apemantus.  So,  so;  there!— 

Aches  contract  and  starve  your  supple  joints! — 

—Timon  of  Athens,  Act  L,  Sc.  I. 

Macbeth.    The  labour  we  delight  in  physics  pain. 

—Macbeth,  Act  II.,  Sc.  3. 

The  benefits  of  occupation  are  many,  especially  for  imaginary  ills. 

17 


SHAKSPERE  IN  MEDICINE. 


Bull-calf.     (A  Recruit)     O,  sir !  I  am  a  diseased  man. 

Falstaff.    What  disease  hast  thou? 

Bull-calf.  A  whoreson  cold,  sir ;  a  cough,  sir ;  which  I  caught  with 
ringing  in  the  king's  affairs  upon  his  coronation  day,  sir. 

Falstaff.  Come,  thou  shalt  go  to  the  wars  in  a  gown;  we  will  have 
away  thy  cold. 

—Part  Second,  King  Henry  Fourth,  Act  III.,  Sc.  2. 

Falstaff.     Sirrah,  you  giant,  what  said  the  doctor  to  my  water? 
Page.    He  said,  sir,  the  water  itself  was  a  good  healthy  water;  but  for 
the  party  that  owned  it  he  might  have  more  diseases  than  he  knew  for. 

— Part  Second,  King  Henry  Fourth,  Act  I.,  Sc.  2. 

The  value  of  urinary  analysis  was  known  centuries  before 
Shakspere's  time.  There  is  frequent  reference  to  examina- 
tions of  the  urine  in  Shakspere's  plays;  in  this  instance, 
however,  we  infer  that  the  Master  wished  to  cast  a  slur  upon 
professional  opinions. 

Hamlet.  Slanders,  sir:  for  the  satirical  slave  says  here,  that  old  men 
have  gray  beards;  that  their  faces  are  wrinkled;  their  eyes  purging  thick 
amber,  or  plum  tree-gum;  and  that  they  have  a  plentiful  lack  of  wit, 
together  with  weak  hams: 

—Hamlet,  Act  II.,  Sc.  2. 
Here  we  have  a  case  of  senile  decay. 

Mortimer.    Kind  keepers  of  my  weak  decaying  age, 
Let  dying  Mortimer  here  rest  himself. 
Even  like  a  man  new  haled  from  the  rack, 
So  fare  my  limbs  with  long  imprisonment: 
And  these  gray  locks,  these  pursuivants  of  death, 
Nestor-like  aged,  in  an  age  of  care, 
Argue  the  end  of  Edmund  Mortimer. 
These  eyes,  like  oil  whose  wasting  oil  is  spent, 
Wax  dim,  as  drawing  to  their  exigent : 
Weak  shoulders,  over-borne  with  burdening  grief: 
And  pithless  arms,  like  to  a  wither'd  vine 
That  droops  his  sapless  branches  to  the  ground. 
Yet  are  these  feet,  whose  strengthless  stay  is  numb, 
Unable  to  support  this  lump  of  clay, 
Swift-winged  with  desire  to  get  a  grave, 
As  witting  I  no  other  comfort  have. 

— Pan  First,  King  Henry  Sixth,  Act  II.,  Sc.  5. 

Senile  decay  with  approaching  death. 

18 


SHAKSPERE  IN  MEDICINE. 


Chief  Justice.  Do  you  set  down  your  name  in  the  scroll  of  youth,  that 
are  written  down  old  with  all  the  characters  of  age?  Have  you  not  a 
moist  eye  ?  a  dry  hand  ?  a  yellow  cheek  r  a  white  beard  ?  a  decreasing  leg  ? 
an  increasing  belly?  Is  not  your  voice  broken?  your  wind  short?  your 
chin  double?  your  wit  single?  and  every  part  about  you  blasted  with 
antiquity?  and  will  you  yet  call  yourself  young? 

— Part  Second,  King  Henry  Fourth,  Act  I.,  Sc.  2. 


Gonsalo.    Like  poison  given  to  work  a  great  time  after, 
Now  'gins  to  bite  the  spirits. 

—Tempest,  Act  III.,  Sc.  3. 

There  was  a  belief  that  poison  could  be  given  without  those  taking 
it  being  aware  of  it,  and  that  it  would  act  only  at  some 
remote  period.  See  references  to  secret  poisonings  by  the 
author  in  New  York  Medical  Record,  August,  1903. 


Prince  Henry.    It  is  too  late;  the  life  of  all  his  blood 

Is  touch'd  corruptibly ;  and  his  pure  brain 

(Which  some  suppose  the  soul's  frail  dwelling-house) 

Doth,  by  the  idle  comments  that  it  makes, 

Foretell  the  ending  of  mortality. — 


Pembroke.    He  is  more  patient 

Than  when  you  left  him;  even  now  he  sung. 


Prince  Henry.    O  vanity  of  sickness  !  fierce  extremes, 

In  their  continuance,  will  not  feel  themselves. 
Death,  having  preyed  upon  the  outward  parts, 
Leaves  them  insensible ;  and  his  siege  is  now 
Against  the  mind,  the  which  he  pricks  and  wounds 
With  many  legions  of  strange  fantasies ; 
Which,  in  their  throng  and  press  to  this  last  hold, 
Confound  themselves. 


King  John.     (Brought  in)  Poisoned, — ill  fare; — dead,  forsook,  cast  off ; 
And  none  of  you  will  bid  the  winter  come, 
To  thrust  his  icy  fingers  in  my  maw; 
Nor  let  my  kingdom's  rivers  take  their  course 
Through  my  burn'd  bosom ;  nor  entreat  the  north 

19 


SHAKSPERE  IN  MEDICINE. 


To  make  his  bleak  winds  kiss  my  parched  lips, 
And  comfort  me  with  cold. 

— King  John,  Act  V.,  Sc.  7. 

Here  is  a  perfect  description  of  arsenical  poisoning. 

Northumberland.     In  poison  there  is  physic;  and  these  news, 

Having  been  well,  that  would  have  made  me  sick. 
Being  sick,  have  in  some  measure  made  me  well ; 
And  as  the  wretch,  whose  fever  weakened  joints, 
Like  strengthless  hinges,  buckle  under  fire, 
Impatient  of  his  fit,  breaks  like  a  fire 
Out  of  his  keeper's  arms ;  even  so  my  limbs, 
Weakened  with  grief,  being  now  enrag'd  with  grief, 
Are  thrice  themselves;  hence,  therefore  thou  nice 

crutch ; 
— Part  Second,  King  Henry  Fourth,  Act  L,  Sc.  i 


C&sar.    The  manner  of  their  deaths? 
I  do  not  see  them  bleed. 
If  they  had  swallowed  poison  'twould  appear 
By  external  swellings;  but  she  looks  like  sleep. 


Dolabella.    Here  on  her  breast 

There  is  a  vent  of  blood,  and  something  blown: 
The  like  is  on  her  arm. 


Guard.    This  is  an  aspic's  trail. 


Cesar.    Most  probably 

That  so  she  died;  for  her  physician  tells  me 
She  hath  pursu'd  conclusions  infinite 
Of  easy  ways  to  die. — 

— Antony  and  Cleopatra,  Act  V.,  Sc.  2. 


Coriolanus.    To  jump  a  body  with  a  dangerous  physic, 
That's  sure  of  death  without  it, — 


Brutus.  Sir,  those  cold  ways, 

That  seem  like  prudent  helps,  are  very  poisonous 
When  the  disease  is  violent: — 

— Coriolanus,  Act  III.,  Sc.  I. 
20 


SHAKSPERE  IN  MEDICINE. 


What  a  lecture  is  here  given  to  the  physician,  too  ready  to  dose 
his  patient  in  the  hope  of  giving  relief,  when  a  diagnosis  can- 
not be  made. 


Patience.  Do  you  note, 

How  much  her  grace  is  alter'd  on  the  sudden? 
How  long  her  face  is  drawn  ?    How  pale  she  looks, 
And  of  an  earthly  cold?    Mark  you  her  eyes ! 


Griffith.    She  is  going,  wench;  pray,  pray. 

Patience.    Heaven  comfort  her! 

— King  Henry  Eighth,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  2. 

Here  is  a  most  excellent  description  of  near  approaching  death. 

Capulet.    ,  alas!  she's  cold; 

Her  blood  is  settled;  and  her  joints  are  stiff; 
Life  and  those  lips  have  long  been  separated. 

— Romeo  and  Juliet,  Act  IF.,  Sc.  5. 

Rigor  mortis  following  death. 

Host.      What  says  my  Esculapius  ?  my  Galen  ?  my  heart  of  elder  ?  ha ! 
is  he  dead,  bully  Stale?  is  he  dead? 

************** 

Thou  art  a  Castilian,  King  Urinal ! 

Shallow.    :  he  is  a  curer  of  souls  and  you  a  curer  of  bodies;  if 

you  should  right,  you  go  against  the  hair  of  your  professions,    *    *    * 


Host.    ah,  monsieur  Mock- water. 

Caius.    :  by  gar,  I  love  you;  and  I  shall  procure-a  you  de  good 

guest,  de  earl,  de  knight,  de  lords,  de  gentlemen,  my  patients. 

— Merry  Wives  of  Windsor,  Act  II.,  Sc.  3. 

Heart  of  elder  being  soft  pith,  the  reference  to  it  is  not  compli- 
mentary to  Caius.  Then  the  Host  calls  him  a  Castilian,  an 
opprobrious  designation  for  the  Spaniard,  whom  the  English 

21 


SHAKSPERE  IN  MEDICINE. 


in  Shakspere's  time  hated.  Mock- water  means  counterfeit 
valor,  and  refers  to  "Doctor  Caius,"  a  professional  counter- 
feit. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  ignorant  quack  is  here  well  pictured  in 
"Doctor  Caius."  The  profession  has  always  suffered  from  this 
incubus.  The  greater  the  ignorance,  the  more  pompous, 
vain  and  boastful.  It  would  seem  that  the  success  of  these 
parasites  was  measured  by  the  extent  or  degree  of  their, 
ignorance.  In  this  country,  however,  we  see  the  effect  of 
state  legislation  for  the  purpose  of  regulating  the  practice  of 
medicine.  These  laws  are,  in  most  of  the  states,  wisely 
framed  and  have  accomplished  much  good  in  protecting  the 
people.  In  time,  we  shall  hope  to  have  this  dangerous  para- 
site pass  from  among  us. 

The  Host  is  more  than  a  match  for  "Doctor  Caius,"  for  he  evi- 
dently appreciates  him  at  his  true  worth. 


Evans.    Master  Caius,  that  calls  himself  Doctor  of  Physic? 

— Merry  Wives  of  Windsor,  Act  III.,  Sc.  i. 


Host.  Peace,  I  say:  soul-curer  and  body-curer, — shall  I  lose  my  doc- 
tor? no,  he  gives  me  the  potions  and  the  motions.  Shall  I  lose  my  parson, 
my  priest,  my  Sir  Hugh?  no,  he  gives  me  the  proverbs  and  the  no-verbs. 

— Merry  Wives  of  Windsor,  Act  III.,  Sc.  2. 


SURGERY 


Sir  Toby.    ;  he's  hurt  me,  and  there's  an  end  on't. — Sot,  did'st 

see  Dick  Surgeon,  sot? 


Clown.    O  he's  drunk,  Sir  Toby,  an  hour  agone;  his  eyes  were  set  at 
eight  i'  the  morning. 


Sir  Toby.    ;  I  hate  a  drunken  rogue. 

—Twelfth  Night,  Act  V.t  Sc.  I. 

Sir  Toby  very  wisely  objects  to  a  drunken  surgeon. 

22 


SHAKSPERE  IN   MEDICINE. 


Hotspur.    I  then,  all  smarting,  with  my  wounds  being  cold, 
To  be  so  pester'd  with  a  popinjay, 
Out  of  my  grief  and  my  impatience 
Answer'd  neglectingly,  I  know  not  what  ; 


And  telling  me,  the  sovereign'st  thing  on  earth 
Was  parmaceti,  for  an  inward  bruise. 

—First  Part,  King  Henry  the  Fourth,  Act  I.,  Sc.  3. 

Cold,  as  here  applied  to  wounds,  refers  to  the  belief  that  "when 
the  blood  is  cold  we  feel  the  wounds."  Popinjay  signifies 
parrot  or  parrot-like.  ''Out  of  my  grief"  is  to  be  interpreted 
out  of  my  pain.  Parmaceti  is  intended  for  spermaceti.  The 
housewife  in  olden  times  regarded  spermaceti  as  "excellent 
for  inward  bruises." 

The  quotation  shows  that  Hotspur  was  impatient  and  disgusted 
with  this  adviser  "perfumed  as  a  milliner"  who  objected  to 
having  the  soldiers  bear  dead  bodies  from  the  battle  field 
"betwixt  the  wind  and  his  nobility."  The  passage  should  be 
read  in  full. 

Messenger.     Send  succors,  lords,  and  stop  the  rage  betime, 
Before  the  wound  do  grow  incurable  ; 
For  being  green  there  is  great  hope  of  help. 
—Part  Second,  King  Henry  the  Sixth,  Act  III.,  Sc.  I. 

"Being  green"  or  freshly  made.  Wounds  left  to  become  infected 
do  not  heal  by  first  intention. 

Queen  Margaret.    Away  !  though  parting  be  a  fretful  corsive, 

It  is  applied  to  a  deathful  wound. 
—Part  Second,  King  Henry  the  Sixth,  Act  HI.,  Sc.  2. 

Corsive,  corrosive. 


Caius  M arcius.     I  have  some  wounds  upon  me,  and  they  smart 
To  hear  themselves  remember'd. 


Cominius.     Should  they  not, 

Well  might  they  fester  'gainst  ingratitude, 
And  tent  their  senses  with  death. 

— Coriolanus,  Act  I.,  Sc.  9. 
23 


SHAKSPERE  IN   MEDICINE. 


Menenius.    Where  is  he  wounded? 


Volumnia.  I'  the  shoulder,  and  i'  the  left  arm.  There  will  be  large 
cicatrices  to  show  the  people,  when  he  shall  stand  for  his  place.  He 
received  in  the  repulse  of  Tarquin  seven  hurts  i'  the  body. 

— Coriolanus,  Act  II.,  Sc.  I. 


logo.    What  wound  did  ever  heal  but  by  degrees  ? 

—Othello,  Act  II. ,  Sc.  3. 


Anna.    O,  gentlemen,  see,  see !  dead  Henry's  wounds 
Open  their  congeal'd  mouths  and  bleed  afresh ! 
Blush,  blush,  thou  lump  of  foul  deformity; 
For  'tis  thy  presence  that  exhales  this  blood 
From  cold  and  empty  veins,  where  no  blood  dwells ; 
Thy  deed,  inhuman  and  unnatural, 
Provokes  this  deluge  most  unnatural. 

— King  Richard  Third,  Act  I.,  Sc.  2. 

There  was  a  belief  in  earlier  times  that  the  wounds  of  a  person 
murdered  opened  and  bled  in  the  presence  of  the  murderer. 
Thus  they  cried  to  heaven  for  revenge. 


Archbishop.     Our  peace  will,  like  a  broken  limb  united, 
Grow  stronger  for  the  breaking. 
—Part  Second,  King  Henry  the  Fourth,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  i. 


Buckingham.     But  lately,  splinter'd,  knit,  and  join'd  together, 
Must  gently  be  preserv'd,  cherish'd  and  kept; 

*    *    *    ,  lest 

The  new  heal'd  wound  of  malice  should  break  out; 
Which  would  be  so  much  the  more  dangerous, 
By  how  much  the  estate  is  green,  and  yet  ungoverned. 
—King  Richard  the  Third,  Act  II.,  Sc.  2. 


I  ago.     This  broken  joint  between  you  and  her  husband,  entreat  her  to 
splinter ; — this  crack  of  your  love  shall  grow  stronger  than  it  was  before. 

—Othello,  Act  II.,  Sc.  3. 


Sicinius.     He's  a  disease  that  must  be  cut  away. 

24 


SHAKSPERE  IN  MEDICINE. 


Menenius.    O,  he's  a  limb,  that  has  but  a  disease  ; 
Mortal  to  cut  it  off;  to  cure  it,  easy. 

********* 

The  service  of  the  foot 

Being  once  gangren'd,  is  not  then  respected 

For  what  before  it  was. 

—Coriolanus,  Act  III.,  Sc.  i. 


York.    This  fester'd  joint  cut  off,  the  rest  rests  sound; 
This,  let  alone,  will  all  the  rest  confound. 

—King  Richard  the  Second,  Act  V  .,  Sc.  3. 

This  quotation  refers  to  Aumerle,  York's  son  and  cousin  to  Bo- 
lingbroke,  afterwards  King  Henry  the  IV.,  who  has  entered 
into  the  conspiracy  to  overthrow  Bolingbroke.  York  wishes 
his  son  summarily  dealt  with  rather  than  allow  him  to  return 
to  his  fellow-conspirators  to  thus  "All  the  rest  confound." 

Hamlet.    -  Mother,  for  love  of  grace, 

Lay  not  that  flattering  unction  to  your  soul, 
That  not  your  trespass,  but  my  madness  speaks; 
It  will  but  skin  and  film  the  ulcerous  place, 
Whiles  rank  corruption,  mining  all  within, 
Infects  unseen. 

—Hamlet,  Act  III.,  Sc.  4. 

The  Master  here  shows  the  necessity  of  repair  in  wounds  or 
abscesses  from  the  bottom  and  the  need  of  drainage  for  the 
accumulated  pus.  "Mining  all  within,  infects  unseen"  applies 
to-day  as  in  his  time.  It  is  fair  to  presume  that  with  the 
drainage  tubes  and  antiseptic  gauze  of  to-day  much  more 
comfort  would  have  been  secured  the  patient  and  many  lives 
prolonged.  And  yet,  is  it  not  strange  that  these  great  prin- 
ciples in  surgery  should  have  been  so  clearly  defined  at  such 
a  time  and  that,  too,  by  a  layman?  It  cannot  be  said  that 
the  practice  of  medicine  was  based  upon  such  rational  and 
scientific  inferences  in  Shakspere's  time  as  was  surgery,  for 
here  is  a  principle  in  surgery  clearly  stated  at  a  time  when 
therapeutics  consisted  in  the  administration  of  all  sorts  of 
empirical  or  irrational  compounds,  calculated,  it  would  seem 
at  this  day,  to  do  infinite  injury  to  the  poor  sufferer,  rather 
than  to  aid  his  recovery.  What  with  purging,  blood-letting, 

25 


SHAKSPERE  IN  MEDICINE. 


etc.,  it  must  be  that  the  mortality  was  great  in  the  time  of 
Shakspere. 


King.  But  like  the  owner  of  a  foul  disease, 
To  keep  it  from  divulging,  let  it  feed 
Even  on  the  pith  of  life. 

—Hamlet,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  I. 


King  Richard.    More  than  it  is,  ere  foul  sin,  gathering  head, 
Shall  break  into  corruption: 

—King  Richard  the  Second,  Act  V.,  Sc.  l. 


Hamlet.    This  is  the  imposthume  of  much  wealth  and  peace; 
That  inward  breaks,  and  shows  no  cause  without, 
Why  the  man  dies. 

—Hamlet,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  4. 


King.     Since  yet  thy  cicatrice  looks  raw  and  red. 


For,  like  the  hectic  in  my  blood  he  rages, 
And  thou  must  cure  me. 

—Hamlet,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  3. 


Bottom.    I  shall  desire  of  you  more  acquaintance,  good  Master  Cob- 
web :    If  I  cut  my  finger,  I  shall  make  bold  with  you. — 

— Midsummer  Night's  Dream,  Act  HI.,  Sc.  I. 

Cobweb  or  spider  web  has  always  been  a  popular  domestic  remedy 
with  which  to  control  hemorrhages. 


Second  Servant.    Go  thou ;  I'll  fetch  some  flax  and  whites  of  eggs 

To  apply  to  his  bleeding  face.    Now  heaven  help  him ! 
— King  Lear,  Act  III.,  Sc.  7. 

A  method  of  stopping  hemorrhage. 


Salisbury.    I  am  not  glad  that  such  a  sere  of  time 
Should  seek  a  plaster  by  contemn'd  revolt, 

26 


SHAKSPERE  IN  MEDICINE. 


And  Heal  the  inveterate  canker  of  one  wound, 
By  making  many. 

—King  John,  Act  V.,  Sc.  2. 

This  refers  to  a  seaton  or  issue ;  or  possibly  to  a  blistering  plaster 
applied  for  the  purpose  of  producing  counterirritation. 


Ccssar.    ;  But  we  do  lance 

Diseases  in  our  bodies. 

— Antony  and  Cleopatra,  Act  V.,  Sc.  i. 


Lear.    The  untented  woundings  of  a  father's  curse 
Pierce  every  sense  about  thee ! 

— King  Lear,  Act  L,  Sc.  4. 

"Untented  woundings"  or  those  that  cannot  be  probed ;  incurable. 


Hector.    ;  but  modest  doubt  is  call'd 

The  beacon  of  the  wise,  the  tent  that  searches 
To  the  bottom  of  the  worst. 

— Troilus  and  Cressida,  Act  II.,  Sc.  2. 


Patroclus.    Who  keeps  the  tent  now? 

The  surgeon's  box,  or  the  patient's  wound. 

— Troilus  and  Cressida,  Act  V.,  Sc.  i. 

Tent  here  refers  to  small  pledgets  of  some  soft  material,  usually 
lint,  often  medicated,  which  were  inserted  into  wounds  as  the 
modern  surgeon  uses  gauze. 


Menenius.    For  'tis  a  sore  upon  us 

You  cannot  tent  yourself; 

— Coriolanus,  Act  III.,  Sc.  i. 


Imogene.    Talk  thy  tongue  weary;  speak: 

I  have  heard  I  am  a  strumpet;  and  mine  ear, 
Therein  false  struck,  can  take  no  greater  wound, 
Nor  tent  to  bottom  that. 

—Cymbeline,  Act  III.,  Sc.  4. 

Tent  or  probe  to  the  bottom. 

27 


SHAKSPERE  IN   MEDICINE. 


workings  of  the  mind  in  disease  will  be  seen  from  a  reading 
of  the  following  quotations : 


Olivia.    Why,  this  is  very  midsummer  madness. 

—Twelfth  Night,  Act  III.,  Sc.  4. 

The  belief  that  the  loss  of  one's  wits  was  in  a  great  measure  due 
to  the  influence  of  the  moon  prevailed  in  Shakspere's  time, 
and  the  coming  of  the  midsummer  moon  was  regarded  as  a 
critical  time  in  the  lives  of  those  not  mentally  strong.  We 
find  this  mentioned  in  Ray's  Proverbs  as  well  as  in  Palsgrove 
in  1590  and  in  Poor  Richard's  Almanack. 


Malvolio.    I  am  no  more  mad  than  yon  are,  make  the  trial  of  it  in 
any  constant  question. 


Clown.    Nay,  I'll  ne'er  believe  a  madman  'till  I  see  his  brains.    I  will 
fetch  you  light,  and  paper  and  ink. 

—Twelfth  Night,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  2. 

The  Clown  will  not  accept  the  protestations  of  Malvolio  that  he 
is  not  mad ;  he  proposes  to  put  him  to  the  test  in  having  him 
write,  "  'till  I  see  his  brains"  in  his  writing  or  sentences. 


Sebastian.    :  but  that  I  am  not  mad, 

Or  else  the  lady's  mad;  yet,  if  'twere  so, 
She  could  not  sway  her  house,  command  her  followers 
Take  and  give  back  affairs,  and  their  despatch, 
With  such  a  smooth,  discreet  and  stable  bearing, 
As,  I  perceive,  she  does:  there's  something  in't, 
That  is  deceivable. 

—Twelfth  Night,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  3- 


Duke.    If  she  be  mad  as  I  believe  no  other, 

Her  madness  hath  the  oddest  frame  of  sense, 
(Such  dependency  of  thing  on  thing), 
As  e'er  I  heard  in  madness. 

— Measure  for  Measure,  Act  fr .,  Sc.  I. 

34 


SHAKSPERE  IN  MEDICINE. 


Page.     For  your  physicians  have  expressly  charg'd 
In  peril  to  incur  your  former  malady, 
That  I  should  yet  absent  me  from  your  bed : 


Sly.    .    But  I  would  be  loath  to  fall  into  my  dreams  again ;  I 

will  therefore  tarry,  in  despite  of  the  flesh  and  the  blood. 

— Taming  of  the  Shrew,  Introduction,  Sc.  2. 


Abbess.    And  therefore  came  it  that   the  man  was  mad: 
The  venom  clamours  of  a  jealous  woman 
Poison  more  deadly  than  a  mad  dog's  tooth. 
It  seems,  his  sleeps  were  hinder'd  by  thy  railing; 
And  thereof  comes  it,  that  his  head  is  light. 
Thou  say'st,  his  meat  was  sauc'd  by  thy  upraidings: 
Unquiet  meals  make  ill  digestions, 
Thereof  the  raging  fire  of  fever  bred ; 
And  w7hat's  a  fever  but  a  fit  of  madness? 
Thou  say'st  his  sports  were  hinder'd  by  thy  brawls : 
Sweet  recreation  barr'd,  what  doth  ensue, 
But  moody  and  dull  melancholy, 
Kinsman  to  grief  and  comfortless  despair, 
And,  at  her  heels,  a  huge  infectious  troop 
Of  pale  distemperatures,  and  foes  to  life? 
In  food,  in  sport,  and  life-preserving  rest 
To  be  disturb'd,  would  mad  or  man,  or  beast : 
The  consequence  is  then,  thy  jealous  fits 
Have  scar'd  thy  husband  from  the  use  of  wits. 

— Comedy  of  Errors,  Act  V .,  Sc.  I. 

How  many  men  and  women  are  confined  in  State  Hospitals  for 
the  insane  as  the  result  of  domestic  brawls,  upbraidings, 
criminations  and  recriminations.  The  Master  here  points  a 
painful  truth  which  it  is  the  misfortune  of  most  physicians  to 
see  more  or  less  frequently. 

Note  the  reference  to  hydrophobia,  melancholia,  insomnia,  dyspep- 
sia and  the  want  of  recreation. 


Macbeth.    How  does  your  patient,  doctor? 
Doctor.    Not  so  sick,  my  lord, 

As  she  is  troubled  with  thick  coming  fancies 

That  keep  her  from  her  rest. 

35 


SHAKSPERE  IN   MEDICINE. 


syphilis  when,  as  in  those  days,  improperly  treated.  Laryn- 
geal  complication,  destruction  of  the  tissues  of  the  nose,  loss 
of  hair  and  often  the  production  of  impotency. 

Thersites.  After  this,  vengeance  on  the  whole  camp!  or,  rather,  the 
bone-ache !  for  that  methinks  is  the  curse  dependent  on  those  that  war  for 
a  placket. 

— Troilus  and  Cressida,  Act  II.,  Sc.  3. 

This  passage  refers  to  syphilis.  Placket  to  the  opening  in  the 
upper  part  of  petticoats  worn  by  women.  The  connection  will 
be  readily  understood. 

Pandarus.  A  whoreson  tisick,  a  whoreson  rascally  tisick  so  troubles 
me,  and  the  foolish  fortune  of  this  girl ;  and  what  one  thing,  what  another, 
that  I  shall  leave  you  one  o'  these  days :  And  1  have  a  rheum  in  mine  eyes 
too;  and  such  an  ache  in  my  bones,  that,  unless  a  man  were  cursed,  I 
cannot  tell  what  to  think  on't. — 

— Troilus  and  Cressida,  Act  V .,  Sc.  4. 

I  am  more  inclined  to  regard  this  a  case  of  tertiary  syphilis  than 
one  of  pulmonary  tuberculosis  or  consumption.  The  condi- 
tion of  the  eyes  and  the  ache  in  the  bones  point  to  the  former 
disease  rather  than  to  the  latter. 

Clozvn.  Why,  masters,  have  your  instruments  been  at  Naples,  that 
they  speak  i'  the  nose  thus? 

—Othello,  Act  III.,  Sc.  I. 

It  is  said  that  in  Naples  the  effect  of  syphilis  were  more  audible 
and  visible  than  elsewhere. 

Boult.    But,  mistress  do  you  know  the  French  knight? 

Bawd.     Well,  well ;  as  for  him,  he  brought  his  disease  hither. 

—Pericles,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  3. 


Lysimachus. How  now,  unwholesome  iniquity? 

Have  you  that  a  man  may  deal  withal,  and  defy  the 
surgeon  ? 

—Pericles,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  6. 

This  question  is  put  to  the  keeper  of  a  brothel  and  refers  to  the 
probability  of  contracting  venereal  diseases  while  an  inmate. 

32 


SHAKSPERE  IN  MEDICINE. 


Dromio  of  Syracuse.     Master,  is  this  Mistress  Satan  ? 

Antipholus  of  Syracuse.    It  is  the  devil. 

Dromio  of  Syracuse.  Nay,  she  is  worse,  she  is  the  devil's  dam ;  and 
here  she  comes  in  the  habit  of  a  light  wench;  and  thereof  comes,  that  the 
wenches  say,  "God  damn  me" ;  that's  as  much  as  to  say ;  "God  make  me  a 
light  wench."  It  is  written,  they  appear  to  men  like  angels  of  light:  light 
is  an  effect  of  fire,  and  fire  will  burn ;  ergo,  light  wenches  will  burn.  Come 
not  near  her. 

— Comedy  of  Errors,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  3. 

The  "burning  devil"  was  none  else  than  the  pain  of  acute  gon- 
orrhea. 


Prince  Henry.    For  the  women. — 

Falstaff.  For  one  of  them, —  she  is  in  hell  already,  and  burns,  poor 
soul !  For  the  other, —  I  owe  her  money :  and  whether  she  be  damned  for 
that,  I  know  not. 

Host.    No,  I  warrant  you. 

— Part  Second,  King  Henry  Fourth,  Act  II.,  Sc.  4. 

"Doll"  according  to  that  reprobate  Falstaff  is  already  in  hell, 
because  she  burns :  has  gonorrhea  in  the  acute  form.  "For 
the  other"  he  himself  owes  her  money  and  not  being  above 
suspicion  does  not  know  whether  he  has  infected  her  or  not. 
The  Host  who  is  pretty  well  acquainted  with  Sir  John,  has 
no  doubt  regarding  it,  hence  his  "'No,  I  warrant  you ;"  accent 
on  warrant. 


MENTAL   AND    NERVOUS    DISEASES. 

In  deciding  upon  the  selections  for  this  chapter  I  have  taken  only 
such  as  will  appeal  with  greater  interest  to  the  general  prac- 
ticers  of  medicine.  Very  instructive  and  highly  edifying 
essays  could  be  written  upon  the  characters  of  Ophelia,  Lear, 
Constance,  Timon,  Caliban,  Lady  Macbeth  and  others,  but 
such  essays  would  be  out  of  place  in  a  chapter  which  is  in- 
tended only  to  quote  illustrations  referring  to  mental  dis- 
eases. That  various  phases  of  insanity  were  known  to  Shak- 
spere  and  that  he  had  more  than  a  cursory  knowledge  of  the 

33 


SHAKSPERE  IN  MEDICINE. 


Pistol.    No;  to  the  spital  go, 

And  from  the  powdering-tub  of  infamy 
Fetch  forth  the  lazar  kite  of  Cressid's  kind, 
Doll  Tear-sheet  she  by  name,  and  her  espouse. 

— King  Henry  Fifth,  Act  II. ,  Sc.  i. 

King  Henry.  Indeed,  the  French  may  lay  twenty  French  crowns  to 
one,  they  will  beat  us ;  for  they  bear  them  on  their  shoulders :  but  it  is  no 
English  treason  to  cut  French  crowns,  and  tomorrow  the  king  himself  will 
be  a  clipper. 

— King  Henry  Fifth,  Act  IV,,  Sc.  i. 

Pistol.  News  have  I 

That  my  Nell  is  dead  i'  the  spital  of  malady  of  France. 

— King  Henry  Fifth,  Act  V.,  Sc.  /. 

"Malady  of  France"  as  elsewhere  stated  we  know  to  have  been 
syphilis.  "Spital"  or  hospital  was  where  these  cases  were 
often  sent  for  treatment. 

First  Clown.  'Faith,  if  he  be  not  rotten  before  he  die,  (as  we  have 
many  pocky  cases  now-a-days,  that  will  scarce  hold  the  laying  in,)  he  will 
last  you  some  eight  year,  or  nine  year ;  a  tanner  will  last  you  nine  year. 

—Hamlet,  Act  V.,  Sc.  i. 

Here  is  another  allusion  to  syphilis.  The  frequency  of  these  ref- 
erences would  indicate  a  widespread  prevalence  of  the  disease 
in  Shakspere's  time,  more  especially  in  France. 

The  reader  will  remember  the  acrimonious  disputes  between  the 
physician  and  surgeon  as  to  which  should  treat  this  disease. 
Its  prevalence  among  the  people  more  particularly  in  France 
where  the  dispute  was  waged  with  great  energy,  made  its 
treatment  a  very  lucrative  part  of  medical  practice  and 
neither  was  willing  to  surrender  to  the  other  without  a 
struggle.  The  French  disease,  (Morbus  Gallicus)  as  it  was 
known,  soon  became  prevalent  throughout  Europe.  Some, 
however,  distinguished  it  as  the  Neapolitan  disease  from  the 
fact  that  it  was  so  common  in  Naples. 

Timon.  This  yellow  slave 

Will  knit  and  break  religions;  bless  the  accursed; 
Make  the  hoar  leprosy  adored;  place  thieves, 

30 


SHAKSPERE  IN  MEDICINE. 


And  give  them  title,  knee,  and  approbation, 
With  senators  on  the  bench :  this  is  it, 
That  makes  the  wappen'd  widow  wed  again; 
She,  whom  the  spital-house  and  ulcerous  sores 
Would  cast  the  gorge  at,  this  embalms  and  spices 
To  the  April  day  again. 

—Timon  of  Athens,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  3. 

The  master  here  refers  to  the  value  of  gold  and  the  diseased  syph- 
ilitic ready  to  wed  again  for  the  power  its  possession  brings. 
Wappen'd  means  one  so  diseased. 


Falstaff.    If  the  cook  help  to  make  the  gluttony,  you  help  to  make  the 
diseases,  Doll :  we  catch  of  you,  Doll,  we  catch  of  you. 
Doll.    Ay,  marry;  our  chains  and  our  jewels. 
Falstaff.     Your  brooches,  pearls  and  owches. 

— Part  Second,  King  Henry  Fourth,  Act  11.,  Sc.  4. 

Brooches,  pearls  and  owches,  certainly  do  not  here  refer  to  jewels 
or  ornaments. 

Timon.     (To  his  mistresses,  Phrynia  and  Timandra;. 
;     Yet  may  your  pains,  six  months, 


Be  quite  contrary; 

*********** 

Consumptions  sow 

In  hollow  bones  of  man ;  strike  their  sharp  shins, 
And  mar  men's  spurring.     Crack  the  lawyers  voice, 
That  he  may  never  more  false  titles  plead, 
Nor  sound  his  quillet  shrilly;  hoar  the  flamen 

:  down  with  the  nose, 

Down  with  it  flat;  take  the  bridge  quite  away. 

:  make  curl'd  pate  ruffians  bald; 

And  let  the  unscarred  braggarts  of  the  war 
Derive  some  pain  from  you :    Plague  all ; 
That  your  activity  may  defeat,  and  quell 
The  source  of  all  erection. 

—Timon  of  Athens,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  3. 

Timon  refers  to  the  pains  that  sexual  disease  produces  in  the  other 
sex,  contracted  of  the  harlot,  and  of  her  own  loss  in  that  she 
is  meanwhile  prevented  from  practicing  her  vocation  or  in 
doing  so  of  the  discomfort  it  causes  her. 

The  Master  calls  attention  to  the  whole  train  of  sequels  following 


SHAKSPERE  IN  MEDICINE. 


Bertram.     What  is  it,  my  good  lord,  the  king  languishes  of? 
Lafeu.    A  fistula,  my  lord. 

—All's  Well  That  Ends  Well,  Act  /.,  Sc.  i. 

This  fistula  was  not  the  familiar  fistula  in  ano,  but  a  fistula  in  the 
chest  resulting  from  empyema.  The  cure  was  effected  in  two 
days.  (?) 

Thersites.  Now  the  rotten  diseases  of  the  south,  the  guts  griping, 
ruptures,  catarrhs,  loads  of  gravel  i'  the  back,  lethargies,  cold  palsies,  raw 
eyes,  dirt-rotten  livers,  wheezing  lungs,  bladders  full  of  imposthume, 
sciaticas,  limekilns  i'  the  palm,  incurable  bone-ache,  and  the  rivelled  fee- 
simple  of  the  tetter,  take  and  take  again  such  preposterous  discoveries. 

—Troilus  and  Cressida,  Act  V.,  Sc.  i. 

Thersites  certainly  was  master  of  invective.  With  such  an  array 
of  complaints  it  were  useless  to  contend.  It  is  especially 
interesting  to  note  here  reference  to  cystitis  and  renal  cal- 
culus. 

Antigonus.    I  have  three  daughters;  the  eldest  is  eleven, 

The  second,  and  the  third,  nine ;  and  some  five ; 

If  this  prove  true,  they'll  pay  for't:  by  mine  honour, 

I'll  geld  them  all :  fourteen  they  shall  not  see, 

To  bring  false  generations :  they  are  co-heirs ; 

And  I  had  rather  glib  myself  than  they 

Should  not  produce  fair  issue. 

—Winter's  Tale,  Act  II.,  Sc.  i. 

The  Master  here  places  the  age  at  which  menstruation  or  puberty 
appears  at  fourteen  years. 

To  geld  his  daughters  Antigonus  would  have  to  remove  their 
ovaries.  Can  it  be  that  this  operation  had  been  performed  on 
women,  or  even  seriously  considered  possible  at  or  before 
Shakspere's  time?  The  very  thought  of  it  is  startling;  and 
yet,  what  else  are  we  to  infer  ? 

Leontes.    ?  and  all  eyes 

Blind  with  the  pin  and  web,  but  theirs,  theirs  only, 
That  would  unseen  be  wicked? 

—Winter's  Tale,  Act  I.,  Sc.  2. 

Cataract  or  opacities  of  the  cornea,  and  is  referred  to  elsewhere 
in  Shakspere  in  the  same  connection  as  pin  and  web. 

28 


SHAKSPERE  IN  MEDICINE. 


First  Gent.     How  now  ?  which  of  your  hips  has  the  most  profound 
sciatica  ? 

— Measure  for  Measure,  Act  I.,  Sc.  2. 

The  sciatica  here  referred  to  is  that  which  accompanies  tertiary 
syphilis. 


Lucio.    Behold,  behold,  where  Madam  Mitigation  comes !    I  have  pur- 
chased as  many  diseases  under  her  roof  as  come  to 

Second  Gent.    To  what,  I  pray  ? 

Lucio.    Judge. 

Second  Gent.    To  three  thousand  dolours  a-year. 

First  Gent.    Ay,  and  more. 

Lucio.    A  French  crown  more. 

— Measure  for  Measure,  Act  I.,  Sc.  2. 

This  humorous  dialogue  has  reference  to  syphilis.  A  French 
crown  is  nothing  less  than  a  bald  pate  following  an  attack 
of  syphilis.  The  repeated  reference  to  this  disease  as  being  of 
or  from  France  indicates  a  belief  in  its  origin  in  that  country. 


First  Gent.    Thou  art  always  figuring  diseases  in  me;  but  thou  art 
full  of  error;  I  am  sound. 

Lucio.    Nay,  not  as  one  would  say,  healthy;  but  so  sound,  as  things 
that  are  hollow ;  thy  bones  are  hollow ;  impiety  has  made  a  feast  of  thee. 

— Measure  for  Measure,  Act  I.,  Sc.  2. 

Syphilitic  affection  of  the  bones. 


Lucio.     ;— but  whilst  I  live,  forget  to  drink  after  thee. 

— Measure  for  Measure,  Act  I.,  Sc.  2. 

Contamination  through  using  the  same  drinking  vessel  as  one  who 
is  suffering  from  syphilis. 


Bottom.  I  will  discharge  it  in  either  your  straw-colored  beard,  your 
orange-tawney  beard,  your  purple-ingrain  beard,  or  your  French-crown- 
colored  beard,  your  perfect  yellow. 

Quince.  Some  of  your  French-crowns  have  no  hair  at  all,  and  then 
you  will  play  bare-faced. — 

— Midsummer  Nighfs  Dream,  Act  I.,  Sc.  2. 

29 


SHAKSPERE  IN  MEDICINE. 


Macbeth.     Cure  her  of  that. 

Canst  thou  not  minister  to  a  mind  diseased; 
Pluck  from  the  memory  a  rooted  sorrow; 
Raze  out  the  written  troubles  of  the  brain; 
And,  with  some  sweet  oblivious  antidote, 
Cleanse  the  stuff'd  bosom  of  that  perilous  stuff, 
Which  weighs  upon  the  heart? 


Doctor.    Therein  the  patient 

Must  minister  to  himself. 


Macbeth.    Throw  physic  to  the  dogs,  I'll  none  of  it.  — 

—Macbeth,  Act  V.,  Sc.  3. 

We  cannot  but  feel  for  Macbeth.  He  has  with  the  moral  support 
and  encouragement  of  his  wife  committed  a  foul  crime.  She 
now  threatens  by  her  unconscious  talking  to  disclose  it,  in 
fact  later  does  so.  He  therefore  appeals  to  the  physician  to 
"cure  her  of  that"  and  evidently  does  not  believe  that  it  is 
impossible.  The  physician's  answer  maddens  and  disappoints 
him  ;  hence  his  reply. 

Constance.    If  I  were  mad,  I  should  forget  my  son; 
Or  madly  think  a  babe  of  clouts  were  he  : 
I  am  not  mad;  too  well  I  feel 
The  different  plague  of  each  calamity. 

—  King  John,  Act  III.,  Sc.  4. 


Lear.    Does  any  here  know  me?    This  is  not  Lear: 

Does  Lear  walk  thus?  speak  thus?  where  are  his  eyes? 
Either  his  notion  weakens,  or  his  discernings 
Are  lethargized.    Ha!  waking?  'tis  not  so. 
Who  is  that  can  tell  me  who  I  am? 

—King  Lear,  Act  1.,  Sc.  4. 

Lear.    O  let  me  not  be  mad,  not  mad,  sweet  heaven  ! 
Keep  me  in  temper;  I  would  not  be  mad! 

—  King  Lear,  Act  I.f  Sc.  5. 

Lear.    -  :  may  be,  he  is  not  well  : 

Infirmity  doth  still  neglect  all  office, 

36 


SHAKSPERE  IN   MEDICINE. 


Whereto  our  health  is  bound;  we  are  not  ourselves, 
When  nature,  being  oppressed,  commands  the  mind 
To  suffer  with  the  body: 

—King  Lear,  Act  II. ,  Sc.  4. 

Lear.    But  where  the  greater  malady  is  fix'd, 
The  lesser  is  scarce  felt, — 

When  the  mind's  free 

The  body's  delicate :  The  tempest  in  my  mind 
Doth  from  my  sense  take  all  feeling  else, 
Save  what  beats  there. 

—King  Lear,  Act  III.,  Sc.  4. 

Kent.  Oppress'd  nature  sleeps : — 

This  rest  might  yet  have  balm'd  thy  broken  senses 
Stand  in  hard  cure, 

—King  Lear,  Act  III.,  Sc.  6. 

Old  Man.    Madman  and  beggar  too. 

Gloster.    He  has  some  reason,  else  he  could  not  beg. 

—King  Lear,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  I. 

Lear.    Pray,  do  not  mock  me : 

I  am  a  very  foolish  fond  old  man, 

Fourscore  and  upwards; — and,  to  deal  plainly, 

I  fear,  I  am  not  in  my  perfect  mind. 

Methinks,  I  should  know  you,  and  know  this  man ; 

Yet  I  am  doubtful:  for  I  am  mainly  ignorant 

What  place  this  is ;  and  all  the  skill  I  have 

Remembers  not  these  garments ;  nor  I  know  not 

Where  I  did  lodge  last  night :    Do  not  laugh  at  me 

For,  as  I  am  a  man,  I  think  this  lady 

To  be  my  child  Cordelia. 

Cordelia.    And  so  I  am,  I  am. 

Physician.     Be  comforted,  good  madam:  the  great  rage, 

You  see,  is  kill'd  in  him:  and  yet  it  is  danger 

To  make  him  even  o'er  the  time  he  has  lost. 

Desire  him  to  go  in;  trouble  him  no  more 

Till  further  settling. 

— King  Lear,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  7. 

Poor  old  king.     This  is  to  me  the  most  pathetic  scene  in  all  of 
Lear.    I  well  remember  witnessing  the  great  tragedian  John 

37 


SHAKSPERE  IN   MEDICINE. 


McCullough  portray  this  character.  It  was  superb.  When 
he  rendered  the  above  words  he  was  himself  moved  to  tears. 
The  audience  was  so  profoundly  in  sympathy  that  there  was 
literally  not  a  dry  eye  in  the  house;  the  suffering  was  ex- 
cruciating. I  have  never  before  or  since  seen  an  audience  so 
profoundly  moved  that  it  could  make  no  response.  Sobs  were 
audible  in  every  part  of  the  house.  Cordelia  could  not  speak 
her  lines  for  sobbing  while  the  physician  had  to  make  a  great 
effort  to  speak  his  part.  Every  player  not  on  the  stage  was 
in  the  wings  and  all  as  profoundly  moved  as  were  the  audi- 
ence. It  was  a  great  tribute  to  a  masterful  genius. 


Polonius. .    Your  noble  son  is  mad: 

Mad  call  I  it;  for,  to  define  true  madness, 
What  is't  but  to  be  nothing  else  but  mad  ? 

—Hamlet,  Act  II.,  Sc.  2, 

Can  anyone  even  today  give  a  better  definition  of  madness? 


Polonius.    And  he,  repulsed,  (a  short  tale  to  make), 
Fell  into  sadness;  then  into  a  fast; 
Thence  to  a  watch ;  thence  into  weakness ; 
Thence  to  a  lightness;  and  by  this  declension, 
Into  a  madness,  wherein  now  he  raves. 

—Hamlet,  Act  II.,  Sc.  2. 


Gloster.    A  subtle  knave !  but  yet  it  shall  not  serve. — 

Let  me  see  thine  eyes;  wink  now;  now  open  them: 
In  my  opinion,  yet  thou  see'st  not  well. 

— Part  Second,  King  Henry  Sixth,  Act  II.,  Sc.  i. 

This  is  a  case  of  imposture  and  Gloster  has  set  himself  to  expose 
it.  He  was  evidently  seeking  for  the  sign  of  contraction  and 
dilatations  of  the  pupils. 


King  Richard.    This  music  mads  me,  let  it  sound  no  more : 

For  though  it  hath  holp  madmen  to  their  wits, 
In  me  it  seems  it  will  make  wise  men  mad. 

—King  Richard  Second,  Act  V.,  Sc.  5. 

We  have  a  recent  revival  of  the  application  of  the  soothing  effect 

38 


SHAKSPERE  IN  MEDICINE. 


of  music  in  the  treatment  of  disordered  minds.     The  music 
referred  to  by  the  King  was  evidently  discordant. 


Stephana.  He's  in  his  fit  now;  and  does  not  talk  after  the  wisest. 
He  shall  taste  of  my  bottle :  if  he  have  never  drunk  wine  before,  it  will  go 
near  to  remove  his  fit. 

—Tempest,  Act  II.,  Sc.  2. 

Sir  Toby.    We  must  deal  gently  with  him; — this  is  not  the  way;  do 
not  you  see  you  move  him? — let  me  alone  with  him. 
Fabian.    Carry  his  water  to  the  wise  woman. 
Maria.    It  shall  be  done  tomorrow  morning  if  I  live. 

—Twelfth  Night,  Act  III.,  Sc.  4. 

Warwick.    Be  patient  princess ;  you  do  not  know  these  fits 
Are  with  his  highness  very  ordinary; 
Stand  from  him,  give  him  air;  he'll  straight  be  well. 

— Part  Second,  King  Henry  Fourth,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  4. 

Cassius.    He  had  a  fever  when  he  was  in  Spain, 

And,  when  the  fit  was  on  him,  I  did  mark 

How  he  did  shake :  'tis  true,  this  god  did  shake : 

His  coward  lips  did  from  their  color  fly; 

And  that  same  eye  whose  bend  doth  awe  the  world, 

Did  lose  his  lustre:  I  did  hear  him  groan: 

Ay,  and  that  tongue  of  his  that  bade  the  Romans 

Mark  him,  and  write  his  speeches  in  their  books, 

Alas !  it  cried,  Give  me  some  drink,  Titinius ; 

As  a  sick  girl. 

— Julius  Caesar,  Act  I.,  Sc.  2. 

Note  the  severe  rigor,  pale  lips,  dull  eye,  the  thirst,  etc.,  of 
epilepsy. 

Cassius.    What!  did  Csesar  swoon? 

Casca.  He  fell  down  in  the  market  place,  and  foamed  at  the  mouth, 
and  was  speechless. 

Bruttts.    'Tis  very  like:  he  hath  the  falling  sickness. 

— Julius  Casar,  Act  L,  Sc.  2. 

It  is  almost  incredible  that  a  man  of  Caesar's  genius,  force  and  in- 
tellectual power  should  have  been  subject  to  epilepsy,  yet 

39 


SHAKSPERE  IN  MEDICINE. 


history  so  informs  us.  "In  everything  he  excelled."  The  first 
general,  the  greatest  statesman,  and,  with  one  exception 
(Cicero),  the  greatest  orator  of  his  age.  He  was  unsurpassed 
as  a  historian,  as  well  as  a  great  mathematician,  jurist  and 
architect,  and  yet  withal  an  epileptic. 

Casca.    When  he  came  to  himself  again,  he  said,  If  he  had  done  or  said 
anything  amiss,  he  desired  their  worships  to  think  it  was  his  infirmity. 

—Julius  Ccesar,  Act  L,  Sc.  2. 

We  have  here  the  confused  state  of  mind  following  an  attack  of 
epilepsy. 

Kent.    A  plague  upon  your  epileptic  visage! 

Smile  you  my  speeches,  as  I  were  a  fool  ? 

— King  Lear,  Act  11. ,  Sc.  2. 

This  quotation  indicates  to  my  mind  a  personal  knowledge  of 
epilepsy.  Shakspere  had  doubtless  witnessed  more  than  one 
attack  to  have  thus  written  of  it. 

logo.    My  lord  has  fallen  into  an  epilepsy. 

This  is  his  second  fit;  he  had  one  yesterday. 

Cassio.    Rub  him  about  the  temples. 

logo.  No,   forbear : 

The  lethargy  must  have  a  quiet  course: 
If  not,  he  foams  at  mouth; — and  by  and  by- 
Breaks  out  to  savage  madness. 

—Othello,  Act  V.,  Sc.  2. 

Duke  of  York.    O,  then,  how  quickly  should  this  arm  of  mine, 
Now  prisoner  to  the  palsy,  chastise  thee 
And  minister  correction  to  thy  fault ! 

—King  Richard  Second,  Act  II.,  Sc.  3. 

Here  is  surely  a  case  of  hemiplegia. 

Lord  Say.    The  palsy,  and  not  fear,  provokes  me. 

— Part  Second,  King  Henry  Sixth,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  7. 

Beatrice.    O  Lord !  he  will  hang  upon  him  like  a  disease :  he  is  sooner 
caught  than  the  pestilence,  and  the  taker  runs  presently  mad. 

—Much  Ado  About  Nothing,  Act.  L,  Sc.  i. 

40 


SHAKSPERE    IN    MEDICINE. 


OBSTETRICS   AND    MIDWIFERY. 


Sir  Toby.     Like  Aqua-vita  with  a  midwife. 

—Twelfth  Night,  Act  ll.t  Sc.  5 


Nurse.    And  she  was  wean'd — I  never  shall  forget  it, — 
Of  all  the  days  of  the  year,  upon  that  day ; 
For  I  had  then  laid  wormwood  to  my  dug, 

********** 
When  it  did  taste  the  wormwood  on  the  nipple 
Of  my  dug,  and  felt  it  bitter,  pretty  fool ! 
To  see  it  tetchy  and  fall  out  with  the  dug. 

********** 

For  then  she  could  stand  alone ;  nay,  by  the  rood, 
She  could  have  run  and  waddled  all  about. 

—Romeo  and  Juliet,  Act  I.,  Sc. 


Cleopatra.  Peace,  peace ! 

Dost  thou  not  see  my  baby  at  my  breast, 
That  sucks  the  nurse  asleep? 

—Antony  and  Cleopatra,  Act  V.,  Sc.  2. 

This  reference  to  the  asp  as  "my  baby"  requires  considerable 
imagination.  The  reptile  did  not  suck  Cleopatra  to  sleep, 
but  rather  caused  her  death  by  its  poison  or  virus. 


Lear.    Thou  know'st  the  first  time  we  smell  the  air, 
We  wawl  and  cry: — 

— King  Lear,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  6. 


Pericles.  Lucina,  O 

Divinest  patroness,  and  midwife,  gentle 
To  those  that  cry  by  night,  convey  thy  deity 
Aboard  our  dancing  boat;  make  swift  the  pangs 
Of  my  -Queen's  travails ! — 

*********** 
A  terrible  childbed  hast  thou  had,  my  dear; 
No  light,  no  fire :  the  unfriendly  elements 
Forgot  thee  utterly ;  nor  have  I  time 
To  give  thee  hallow'd  to  thy  grave,  but  straight 

41 


SHAKSPERE    IN    MEDICINE. 


Must  cast  thee,  scarce  coffin'd,  in  the  ooze ; 
Where,  for  a  monument  upon  thy  bones, 
And  aye-remaining  lamps,  the  belching  whale 
And  humming  water  must  o'erwhelm  thy  corpse, 
Lying  with  simple  shells. 

—Pericles,  Act  III.,  Sc.  i. 

The  reader  will  remember  that  Pericles  was  accompanied  by  his 
queen  in  a  voyage  during  which  a  most  severe  storm  overtook 
them.  Through  fear  and  the  effect  of  the  "Dancing  boat" 
the  queen,  who  was  with-child,  was  prematurely  delivered 
of  a  girl  baby.  She  apparently  expired,  was  enclosed  by 
Pericles  in  a  water-tight  chest  and  consigned  to  the  deep. 
The  chest  was  quickly  washed  ashore,  discovered  at  once, 
and  the  queen  released  and  resuscitated. 

Here  we  have,  as  far  as  the  author  is  aware,  the  only  .gross  viola- 
tion of  natural  laws  made  in  the  Master's  plays.  The 
necessity  for  such  a  sequel  existed,  however,  and  in  the  happy 
termination  of  the  queen's  distress  and  perilous  position,  we 
are  glad  to  allow  unquestioned  this  poetic  license. 


Costard.    Faith,  unless  you  play  the  honest  Trojan,  the  poor  wench  is 
cast  away:  she's  quick;  the  child  brags  in  her  belly  already;  'tis  yours. 

— Love's  Labor  Lost,  Act  V.,  Sc.  2. 

Quickening  or  movement  of  the  fetus  in  utero. 


Clown.     Sir,  she  came  in  great  with  child ; 

— Measure  for  Measure,  Act  II. ,  Sc.  I. 

7  imon.    Twin'd  brothers  of  one  womb, — 

Whose  procreation,  residence,  and  birth, 

Scarce  is  divident, — touch  them  with  several  fortunes, 

The  greater  scorns  the  lesser. 

—Timon  of  Athens,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  3. 

Twins  are  also  referred  to  in  Othello,  Act  II.,  Sc.  3,  in  the 
Second  Part  of  King  Henry  Sixth,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  2,  and  in 
the  Comedy  of  Errors,  Act  I.,  Sc.  I. 


Doll.    Nut-hook,  nut-hook,  you  lie.    Come  on ;  I'll  tell  thee  what,  thott 

42 


SHAKSPERE    IN    MEDICINE. 


damned  tripe-visaged  rascal ;  an  the  child  I  now  go  with  do  miscarry,  thou 
hadst  better  thou  had'st  struck  thy  mother,  thou  paper-faced  villain. 

Hostess.    O  that  Sir  John  were  come !  he  would  make  this  a  bloody 
day  to  somebody.     But  I  would  the  fruit  of  her  womb  might  miscarry! 
—Part  Second,  King  Henry  Fourth,  Act  V,,  Sc.  4. 

This  passage  refers  to  physical  violence  in  bringing  about  a 
miscarriage. 

Nut-hook  a  name  of  reproach  for  the  beadle  or  baileff,  an  officer 
of  the  Law,  because  they  usually  were  armed  with  a  catch- 
pole  or  a  pole  with  a  hook  at  the  end. 

Doll  is  never  at  a  loss  for  abusive  epithets:  her  vocabulary  is 
amply  sufficient  for  any  and  all  occasions. 

Queen  Margaret.    From  forth  the  kennel  of  thy  womb  hath  crept 
A  hell-hound  that  doth  hurt  us  all  to  death : 
That  dog,  that  had  his  teeth  before  his  eyes 
To  worry  lambs  and  lap  their  gentle  blood; 
That  foul  defacer  of  God's  handy-work. 

—King  Richard  Third,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  4. 

The  Master  here  calls  attention  among  other  things  to  the  erup- 
tion of  the  teeth  before  birth,  and  in  this  instance  it  is  not 
merely  a  poetic  fancy,  but  is  amply  substantiated  by  history. 


Richard.    I,  that  am  curtail'd  of  this  fair   proportion, 
Cheated  of  feature  by  dissembling  nature, 
Deformed,  imrmish'd,  sent  before  my  time 
Into  this  breathing  world,  scarce  half  made  up, 
And  that  so  lamely  and  unfashionable 
That  dogs  bark  at  me,  as  I  halt  by  them; — 

— King  Richard  Third,  Act  L,  Sc.  I. 

Shakspere  portrays  Richard  as  horribly  deformed  at  birth.  It 
were  unfortunate  thus  to  picture  this  prince,  for  we  have  it 
from  reliable  sources  that  while  he  was  not  perfectly 
fashioned,  yet  he  was  most  courteous,  pleasing  in  manner, 
albeit  somewhat  ambitious  to  secure  the  crown  of  England 
and  resorted  to  unwarranted  means  to  this  end. 


Gloster.    Why,  love  forswore  me  in  my  mother's  womb; 
And,  for  I  should  not  deal  in  her  soft  laws, 

43 


SHAKSPERE    IN    MEDICINE. 


She  did  corrupt  frail  nature  with  some  bribe 
To  shrink  mine  arm  up  like  a  withered  shrub ; 
To  make  an  envious  mountain  en  my  back, 
Where  sits  deformity  to  mock  my  body; 
To  shape  my  legs  of  an  unequal  size ; 
To  disproportion  me  in  every  part, 
Like  to  a  chaos,  or  an  unlicked  bear-whelp 
That  carries  no  impression  like  the  dam. 

— Part  Third,  King  Henry  Sixth,  Act  III.,  Sc.  2. 

The  Duke  of  Gloster  here  referred  to  is  he  who  afterward  became 
King  Richard  the  Third.  (See  comment  on  page  43.) 

With  such  a  multitude  of  incongruous  shortcomings  one  can 
scarcely  wonder  that  Gloster  should  endeavor  to  make  amends 
by  seeking  to  be  exalted  as  the  sole  majesty  of  England. 


King  Henry.    Thy  mother  felt  more  than  a  mother's  pain, 

And  yet  brought  forth  less  than  a  mother's  hope  r 

To  wit,  an  indigested  and  deformed  lump, 

Not  like  the  fruit  of  such  a  goodly  tree. 

Teeth  hadst  thou  in  thy  head,  when  Ihoit  wast  born, 

To  signify  thou  cam'st  to  bite  the  world : 

— Part  Third,  King  Henry  Sixth,  Act  V.,  Sc.  6. 


Falstaff.     My  lord,  I  was  born  about  three  of  the  clock  in  the  afternoon, 
with  a  \\hite  head,  and  something  of  a  round  belly. 

— Part  Second,  King  Henry  Fourth,  Act  I.,  Sc.  2. 


Robert.    ;  and  took  it,  on  his  death, 

That  this,  my  mother's  son,  was  none  of  his; 
And,  if  he  were,  he  came  into  the  world 
Full  fourteen  weeks  before  the  course  of  time. 

—King  John,  Act  I.,  Sc.  2. 

This  is  a  case  of  illegitimacy  rather  than  premature  birth,  as 
"fourteen  weeks  before  the  course  of  time"  would  bring  the 
event  before  the  viable  period  of  pregnancy. 


Hotspur.    Diseased  nature  oftentimes  breaks  forth 

In  strange  eruptions ;  oft  this  teeming  earth 
Is  with  a  kind  of  colic  pinch'd  and  vex'd 
By  the  imprisoning  of  unruly  wind 

44 


SHAKSPERE    IN    MEDICINE. 


Within  her  womb;  which,  for  enlargement  striving, 
Shakes  the  old  beldam  earth  and  topples  down 
Steeples  and  moss-grown  towers.    At  your  birth 
Our  grandam  earth,  having  this  distemperature, 
In  passion  shook. 

— Part  First,  King  Henry  Fourth,  Act  III.,  Sc.  i. 

Birth  during  a  volcanic  eruption. 

King  Henry.    Now,  Lovell,  from  the  queen  what  is  the  news  ? 

Lovell.    I  could  not  personally  deliver  to  her 

What  you  commanded  me,  but  by  her  woman 

I  sent  your  message;  who  returned  her  thanks 

In  the  greatest  humbleness,  and  desired  your  highness 

Most  heartily  to  pray  for  her. 

King  Henry.    What  say'st  thou?  ha! 

To  pray  for  her?    What,  is  she  crying  out? 

Lovell.    So  said  her  woman ;  and  that  her  sufferance  made 
Almost  each  pang  a  death. 

King  Henry.    Alas,  good  lady! 

Suffolk.  God  safely  quit  her  of  her  burden,  and 
With  gentle  travail,  to  the  gladning  of 
Your  highness  with  an  heir! 

—King  Henry  Eighth,  Act  V.,  Sc.  i. 

Gloster.    For  I  have  often  heard  my  mother  say 

I  came  into  the  world  with  my  legs  forward : 
Had  I  not  reason  think  ye,  to  make  haste, 
And  seek  their  ruin  that  usurp'd  our  right? 
The  midwife  wondered:  and  the  woman  cried, 
"O  Jesus  bless  us,  he  is  born  with  teeth !" 

—Part  Third,  King  Henry  Sixth,  Act  V.,  Sc.  6. 


Macduif. ,  Macduff  was  from  his  mother's  womb 

Untimely  ripp'd. 

—Macbeth,  Act  V.,  Sc.  7. 

Mother.    Lucina  lent  me  not  her  aid, 
But  took  me  in  my  throes, 
That  from  me  was  Posthumus  rip'd 
Came  crying  'mongst  his  foes. 
A  thing  of  pity. 

— Cymbeline,  Act  V.,  Sc.  4. 

Macduif,  Posthumus  and  Caesar  came  into  the  world  through  the 

45 


SHAKSPERE    IN    MEDICINE. 


operation  of  Gesarian  section.  Indeed  the  operation  takes 
its  name  from  the  fact  that  the  great  Julius  Caesar  was  so 
brought  into  the  world. 


Queen  Elisabeth.    And  I  the  rather  wean  me  from  despair, 

For  love  of  Edward's  offspring  in  my  womb : 
This  is  it  that  makes  me  bridle  passion, 
And  bear  with  mildness  my  misfortune's  cross ; 
Ay,  ay,  for  this  I  draw  in  many  a  tear, 
And  stop  the  rising  of  blood-sucking  sighs, 
Lest  with  my  sighs  or  tears  I  blast  or  drown 
King  Edward's  fruit,  true  heir  to  the  English  crown. 
— Part  Third,  King  Henry  Sixth,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  4. 

Here  we  have  a  description  of  the  emotions;  being  powerful 
enough  to  cause  the  death  of  the  unborn  child. 


King  Henry.  First,  methought, 

I  stood  not  in  the  smile  of  heaven ;  who  had 
Commanded  nature,  that  my  lady's  womb, 
If  it  conceived  a  male  child  by  me,  should 
Do  no  more  offices  of  life  to't,  than 
The  grave  does  to  the  dead :  for  her  male  issue 
Or  died  where  they  were  made,  or  shortly  after 
This  world  had  air'd  them: 

—King  Henry  Eighth,  Act  II. ,  Sc.  4. 

Death  of  the  fetus  and  its  retention  in  the  womb,  which  was  one 
of  the  king's  excuses  for  seeking  to  divorce  Queen  Cath- 
erine. 


Paulina.    This  child  was  prisoner  to  the  womb ;  and  is, 
By  law  and  process  of  great  nature,  thence 
Free'd  and  enfranchis'd :  not  a  party  to 
The  anger  of  the  king;  nor  guilty  of, 
If  any  be,  the  trespass  of  the  queen. 

—Winter's  Tale,  Act  II. ,  Sc.  2. 

The  sad  tale  of  Perdita's  abandonment;  the  fate  of  Antigonas ; 
the  wooing  of  Florizel;  the  manner  of  the  reconciliation  of 
the  king  to  his  lost  queen  Hermione,  makes  a  story  of  great 
interest. 


SHAKSPERE    IN    MEDICINE. 


La  Purcelle.     (Joan  of  Arc). 

I  am  with  child,  ye  bloody  homicides : 
Murder  not  then  the  fruit  within  my  womb, 
Although  ye  hale  me  to  a  violent  death. 

—First  Part,  King  Henry  Sixth,  Act  V .,  Sc.  4. 

This  final  appeal  to  the  law  which  exempted  one  with  child  from 
capital  punishment  did  not  avail. 


THERAPEUTICS,    PHARMACY    AND 
TOXICOLOGY. 

Helena.    You  know  my  father  left  me  some  prescriptions 
Of  rare  and  prov'd  effects,  such  as  his  reading, 
And  manifest  experience  had  collected. 

—All's  Well  That  Ends  Well,  Act  I.,  Sc.  3. 


Lafeu. :    I  have  seen  a  medicine 

That's  able  to  brea,the  life  into  a  stone; 

'Quicken  a  rock,  and  make  you  dance  canary, 

With  sprightly  fire  and  motion ;  whose  simple  touch 

Is  powerful  to  arrise  King  Pepin,  nay, 

To  give  great  Charlemain  a  pen  in's  hand 

And  write  to  her  a  love-line. 

—All's  Well  That  Ends  Well,  Act  II.,  Sc,  i. 

This  "medicine"  is  a  charming  "lady  doctor." 


Archidamus.  We  will  give  you  sleepy  drinks,  that  your  senses,  unin- 
telligent of  our  insufficience,  may,  though  they  cannot  praise  us,  as  little 
accuse  us. 

—Winter's  Tale,  Act  I.,  Sc.  i. 

Narcotic,  doubtless  opium  as  a  decoction  mixed  with  wine. 

Cantillo.  Sir,  my  lord, 

I  could  do  this ;  and  that  with  no  rash  potion, 
But  with  a  ling'ring  dram,  that  should  not  work 
Maliciously  like  poison : 

—Winter's  Tale,  Act  I.,  Sc.  2. 

Reference  is  elsewhere  made  to  the  poison  given  to  work  a  long 
time  after. 

47 


SHAKSPERE    IN    MEDICINE. 


Florizd.     Preserver  of  my  father,  now  of  me; 

The  medicine  of  our  house ! 

—Winter's  Tale,  Act  IV.rSc:  3. 


Abbess.    Be  patient:  for  I  will  not  let  him  stir, 

Till  I  have  used  the  approved  means  I  have, 
With  wholesome  syrups,  drugs,  and  holy  prayers 
To  make  of  him  a  formal  man  again : 

— Comedy  of  Errors,  Act  V.,  Sc.  i. 


Cordelia.    What  can  man's  wisdom  do, 

In  the  restoring  his  bereaved  sense? 
Physician.  There  is  a  means,  madam : 

Our  foster-nurse  of  nature  is  repose, 
The  which  he  lacks ;  that  to  provoke  in  him, 
Are  many  simples  operative,  whose  power 
Will  close  the  eye  of  anguish. 
Cordelia.  All  bless'd  secrets, 

All  you  unpublish'd  virtues  of  the  earth, 
Spring  with  my  tears !  be  aidant,  and  remediate, 
In  the  good  man's  distress ! — 

— King  Lear,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  4. 

"Simples  operative"  here  refers  to  hypnotics  and  anodynes. 


Gonzalo. :  you  rub  the  sore, 

When  you  should  bring  the  plaster, 
Antonio.    And  most  chirurgeonly. 

— Tempest,  Act  II.,  Sc.  i. 


Costard.    •  — ,  no  salve,  sir,  but  a  plain  plantain  ! 

— Love's  Labor  Lost,  Act  III.,  Sc.  i. 

When  Moth  refers  to  Costard's  broken  shin,  Armado  thinks  it  a 
riddle  and  calls  for  1'envoy  meaning  a  salve.  Costard  sees  no 
riddle,  no  enigma,  no  Tenvoy,  declaring  that  there  is  "no 
salve  in  them  all."  He  wants  but  a  plain  plantain  for  his 
wound. 


Nurse.     Is  this  the  poultice  for  my  aching  bones? 

— Romeo  and  Juliet,  Act  II.,  Sc.  5. 


SHAKSPERE    IN    MEDICINE. 

Falstaff.  Come  let  me  pour  in  some  sack  to  the  Thames  water;  for 
my  belly's  as  cold  as  I  had  swallowed  snow-balls  for  pills  to  cool  the  reins — 
(passions.)  Call  her  in. 

—Merry  Wives  of  Windsor,  Act  111.,  Sc.  5 

This  quotation  refers  to  the  aphrodisiac  action  of  alcoholic  drinks. 
Sack  was  a  strong  white  wine  obtained  in  Shakspere's  time 
from  Italy  and  Spain. 


Cornelius.    But  I  beseech  your  grace,  (without  offence; 

My  conscience  bids  me  ask;)  wherefore  you  have 

Commanded  of  me  those  most  poisonous  compounds, 

Which  are  the  movers  of  a  languishing  death; 

But,  though  slow,  deadly? 
Queen.    I  wonder,  doctor, 

Thou  ask'st  me  such  a  question :   Have  I  not  been 
Thy  pupil  long?    Hast  thou  not  learn'd  me  how 
To  make  perfumes?  distill?  preserve?  yea,  so, 
That  our  great  King  himself  doth  woo  me  oft 
For  my  confections?    Having  thus  far  proceeded, 
(Unless  thou  think'st  me  devilish)  is't  not  meet 
That  I  did  amplify  my  judgment  in 
Other  conclusions?    I  will  try  the  forces 
Of  these  thy  compounds  on  such  creatures  as 
We  count  not  worth  the  hanging,  (but  none  human.) 
To  try  the  vigor  of  them,  and  apply 
Allayments  to  their  act;  and  by  them  gather 
Their  several  virtues  and  effects. 
Cornelius.  Your  highness 

Shall  from  this  practice  but  make  hard  your  heart: 

Besides,  the  seeing  these  effects  will  be 

Both  noisome  and  infectious. 

(Aside)  I  do  not  like  her.    She  doth  think  she  has 

Strange  lingering  poisons : 

*****        Those  she  has 

Will  stupefy  and  dull  the  sense  awhile : 

Which  first,  perchance,  she'll  prove  on  cats  and  dogs : 

Then  afterward  up  higher :  but  there  is 

No  danger  in  what  show  of  death  it  makes, 

More  than  the  locking  up  the  spirits  a  time, 

To  be  more  fresh  reviving. 

— Cymbeline,  Act  I.,  Sc.  6. 

Here  we  find  mention  of  vivisection  or  the  testing  of  remedies  on 
the  lower  animals. 

49 


SHAKSPERE   IN    MEDICINE. 


Pisano.    Here  is  a  box :  I  had  it  from  the  queen ; 

What's  in't  is  precious;  if  you  are  sick  at  sea, 
Or  stomach-qualmed  at  land,  a  dram  of  this 

Will  drive  away  distemper. 

— Cymbeline,  Act  III.,  Sc.  4. 

This  box  it  will  be  remembered  contained  poison,  intended  for 
Imogene,  of  whom  the  Queen  was  jealous. 

Cornelius.    She  did  confess  she  had 

For  you  a  mortal  mineral ;  which,  being  took, 
Should  by  the  minute  feed  on  life,  and  ling'ring 
By  inches  waste  you: 

********* 

The  queen,  sir,  very  oft  importun'd  me 
To  temper  poisons  for  her;  still  pretending 
The  satisfaction  of  her  knowledge  only 
In  killing  creatures  vile,  as  cats  and  dogs, 
Of  no  esteem:  I,  dreading  that  her  purpose 
Was  of  more  danger,  did  compound  for  her 
A  certain  stuff,  which,  being  ta'eii,  would  cease 
The  present  power  of  life;  but,  in  short  time, 
All  offices  of  nature  should  again 
Do  their  due  functions. 

— Cymbeline,  Act  V.,  Sc.  5. 

The  learned  class  in  Shakespeare's  time  and  for  ages  before  were 
much  given  to  the  study  of  chemistry  and,  in  a  way,  phar- 
macy ;  chemistry  in  the  hope  of  fame  and  fortune,  pharmacy 
more  for  the  poisonous  substances  than  the  curative  remedies. 
To  poison  an  enemy  was  the  easiest  means  of  getting  rid  of 
him  without  the  friends  being  able  to  fasten  the  guilt  upon 
any  one.  Analytical  chemistry  had  not  been  so  developed 
as  to  make  the  detection  of  poisons  certain.  For  this  reason 
the  practice  of  wholesale  and  individual  cases  of  poisonings 
were,  as  history  informs  us,  so  general. 

Banquo.    Were  such  things  here  as  we  do  speak  about? 
Or  have  we  eaten  on  the  insane  root 
That  takes  the  reason  prisoner? 

—Macbeth,  Act  I.,  Sc.  3. 

Hemlock  was  called  the  insane  root  because  it  was  supposed  to 
cause  insanity  in  those  who  used  it. 

50 


SHAKSPERE    IN    MEDICINE. 


Lady  Macbeth.     I  have  drugged  their  possets, 

That  death  and  nature  do  contend  about  them 
Whether  they  live,  or  die. 

—Macbeth,  Act  II.,  Sc.  2. 

Evidently  opium  in  some  form. 


Porter.    and  drink,  sir,  is  a  great  provoker  of  three  things. 

Macduff.    What  three  things  does  drink  especially  provoke? 

Porter.     Marry,  sir,  nose  painting,  sleep,  and  urine. 

Lechery,  sir,  it  provokes,  and  unprovokes;  it  provokes  the 
desire,  but  it  takes  away  the  performance:  therefore  much  drink  may  be 
said  to  be  an  equivocator  with  lechery :  it  makes  him,  and  it  mars  him ;  it 
sets  him  on,  and  it  takes  him  off;  it  persuades  him,  and  disheartens  him; 
makes  him  stand  to,  and  not  stand  to :  in  conclusion,  equivocates  him  in  a 
sleep,  and,  giving  him  the  lie,  leaves  him. 

—Macbeth,  Act  II.,  Sc.  3. 

A  clear  and  concise  statement  of  the  effects  of  alcohol,  particularly 
its  effect  upon  the  sexual  organs. 


Witches.    Root  of  hemlock  digg'd  i'  the  dark; 
Liver  of  blaspheming  Jew ; 
Gall  of  goat,  and  slip  of  yew, 
Silver'd  in  the  moon's  eclipse. 

—Macbeth,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  I. 

It  is  difficult  to  isolate  the  drugs  or  poisons  made  use  of  by 
Shakspere.  The  poison  is  needed  to  work  out  in  part  the 
wishes  of  the  author  and  it  does  not  appear  that  he  always 
knew  of  their  exact  toxicological  action.  However,  the 
dramatic  effect  is  ever  in  evidence ;  when  wanted  they  serve  a 
well  defined  purpose. 


Brabantio.    Judge  me  the  world,  if  'tis  not  gross  in  sense, 

That  thou  hast  practiced  on  her  with  foul  charms; 
Abused  her  delicate  youth  with  drugs  or  minerals, 
That  weaken  motion : — I'll  have  it  disputed  on ; 
'Tis  probable,  and  palpable  to  thinking. 
I  therefore  apprehend  and  do  attach  thee, 
For  an  abuser  of  the  world,  a  practiser 
Of  arts  inhibited  and  out  of  warrant. 


SHAKSPERE    IN    MEDICINE. 


I  therefore  vouch  again, 

That  with  some  mixture  powerful  o'er  the  blood, 
Or  with  some  dram  conjured  to  this  effect, 
He  wrought  upon  her. 

—Othello,  Act  I.,  Sc.  2. 

Charms  and  love  potions  were  thought  to  influence  either  sex 
and  was  a  means  to  secure  the  affections  of  the  one  loved. 
Even  to  this  day  the  negro  of  the  South  believes  in  charms. 
Magnetic  ore  is  most  efficient  and  needs  but  to  be  carried 
by  one  to  have  the  effect  of  a  hoodoo  or  evil  charm  made 
inoperative  while  love-powders  are  often  used,  druggists 
selling  some  harmless  powder  to  be  used  in  the  food  or  drink 
unknown  to  the  taker. 


lago.     ;  fill  thy  purse  with  money:  the  food  that  to  him  now  is  as 
luscious  as  locusts,  shall  be  to  him  shortly  as  bitter  as  coloquintida. 

—Othello,  Act  /.,  Sc.  3. 

Colocynth. 


lago.    Look,  where  he  conies!    Not  poppy,  nor  mandragora, 
Nor  all  the  drowsy  syrups  of  the  world, 
Shall  ever  medicine  thee  to  that  sweet  sleep 
Which  thou  ow'dest  yesterday. 

—Othello,  Act  III.,  Sc.  3. 

Unhappy  and  doomed  Othello.  Never  were  loyalty  and  perfect 
love  so  abused.  Calumny,  deceit,  ingratitude,  nor  the  fiends 
of  hell  were  enemies  like  unto  your  Ancient.  Brave,  and 
courageous  to  a  degree,  ready  to  meet  like  the  gladiators  in 
Rome  any  number  of  goodly  men  in  single  combat,  thy  strong 
heart,  fearless  of  injury,  soldier  to  the  core,  this  is  not  of 
the  kind  thou  hast  met ;  she  the  chaste,  the  beautiful,  the  good 
must  be  assassinated  and  thy  noble  self  damned  in  self 
destruction.  Aside  from  Hamlet  and  Lear,  there  is  no 
character  in  fiction  so  real,  so  human  to  which  the  student 
of  psychology  can  turn  with  so  much  profit.  Alas,  unhappy 
Othello. 

lago.    The  Moor  already  changes  with  my  poison : 

Dangerous  conceits  are,  in  their  nature,  poisons: 

52 


SHAKSPERE    IN    MEDICINE. 


Which,  at  the  first,  are  scarce  found  to  distaste; 
But,  with  a  little  act  upon  the  blood, 
Burn  like  the  mines  of  sulphur. 

—Othello,  Act  II I. ,  Sc.  3. 

Othello.    Drop  tears  as  fast  as  the  Arabian  trees 
Their  medicinal  gum. 

—Othello,  Act  V.,  Sc.  2. 


Cleopatra.    Ha,  ha! 

Give  me  to  drink  mandragora. 
Charmian.    Why,  madam? 
Cleopatra.    That  I  might  sleep  out  this  great-gap  of  time, 

My  Antony  is  away. 

— Antony  and  Cleopatra,  Act  I.,  Sc.  5. 

Mandragora  a  hypnotic  was  also  esteemed  an  aphrodisiac. 


Falstaff.    If  the  rascal  have  not  given  me  medicines  to  make  me  love 
him,  I'll  be  hanged;  it  could  not  be  else;  I  have  drunk  medicines. — 
Poins.    Hal !  a  plague  upon  you  both. 

—Part  First,  King  Henry  Fourth,  Act  II.,  Sc.  2. 

This  passage  refers  to  the  aphrodisiac  action  of  some  drug  taken 
with  drink. 


Falstaff.    though  the  chamomile,  the  more  it  is  trodden,  the 

faster  it  grows. 

—Part  First,  King  Henry  Fourth,  Act  II. ,  Sc.  4. 


King  Henry.    And  thou  shalt  prove  a  shelter  to  thy  friends  ; 
A  hoop  of  gold,  to  bind  thy  brothers  in ; 
That  the  united  vessel  of  their  blood. 
Mingle  with  venom  of  suggestion, 
(As,  force  perforce,  the  age  will  pour  it  in,) 
Shall  never  leak,  though  it  do  work  as  strong 
As  aconitum,  or  rash  gunpowder. 

—Part  Second,  King  Henry  Fourth,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  4. 


Hubert.    The  king,  I  fear,  is  poisoned  by  a  monk: 

I  left  him  almost  speechless,  and  broke  out 
To  acquaint  you  with  this  evil ;  that  you  might 

53 


SHAKSPERE    IN    MEDICINE. 


The  better  arm  you  to  the  sudden  time, 
Than  if  you  had  at  leisure  known  of  this. 
Bastard.    How  did  he  take  it?    Who  did  taste  to  him? 

Hubert.    A  monk,  I  tell  you ;  a  resolved  villain, 

Whose  bowels  suddenly  burst  out :  the  king 
Yet  speaks,  and,  peradventure,  may  recover. 

— King  John,  Act  V.,  Sc.  6. 

The  quotation  "bowels  suddenly  burst  out"  doubtless  refers  to  a 
sudden  diarrhea  which  is  a  symptom  of  arsenical  poisoning. 
It  will  be  remembered  the  King  was  poisoned  presumably  by 
arsenic,  as  was  the  monk  who  to  induce  him  to  partake, 
himself  drank  a  portion  of  the  fluid. 

Norfolk.    What  are  you  chafd? 

Ask  God  for  temperance;  that's  the  appliance  only, 
Which  your  disease  requires. 

—King  Henry  Eighth,  Act  L,  Sc.  i. 

Duke  of  Suffolk.    Wherefore  should  I  curse  ? 

Would  curses  kill,  as  doth  the  mandrake's  groan, 
I  would  invent  as  bitter  searching  terms, 
As  curst,  as  harsh,  and  horrible  to  hear, 
********* 

As  lean-faced  envy. 
—Part  Second,  King  Henry  Sixth,  Act  III.,  Sc.  2. 


MANDRAGORA     ROOT. 


Mandrake  here  mentioned  is  not  our  May  apple  but  a  species  of 
solanacea,  which  flourishes  in  Asia  Minor.  It  is  identified 
with  the  mandragora  so  often  mentioned  by  Shakspere. 

Frequent  mention  of  mandragora  is  made  by  the  classic  writers. 
It  was  esteemed  as  possessing  other  than  medicinal  or  toxi- 

54 


SHAKSPERE    IN    MEDICINE. 


cological  properties,  because  of  the  superstition  that  it  grew 
best  and  possessed  greater  worth  when  grown  over  the  buried 
remains  of  an  executed  criminal.  The  peculiar  shape  of  the 
roots — forked  and  divergent — gives  it  a  somewhat  human- 
like appearance.  The  gods  of  mythology  were  supposed  to 
make  frequent  use  of  this  plant  and  its  roots.  When  the 
plant  was  pulled  from  above  the  dead,  groans  and  shrieks 
were  heard  and  those  who  were  unfortunate  enough  to  hear 
them  either  died  at  once  or  became  insane.  It  can,  therefore, 
be  easily  imagined  that  the  great  peril  in  securing  so  valuable 
a  plant  induced  those  wishing  it  to  resort  to  some  measure 
that  would  free  the  person  from  the  hearing  of  the  fatal 
noises.  One  method  was  to  entice  a  dog  into  the  burial 
ground,  fasten  him  by  cords  to  the  plant,  and  after  sealing 
one's  ears  with  some  substance  which  would  prevent  hearing 
the  perilous  sounds,  run  for  life;  the  dog  would  struggle  to 
follow  and  thus  tearing  the  plant  from  the  ground  bring  it 
to  his  master,  who  happily  escaped  the  miserable  end.  The 
dog  was,  however,  a  sacrifice,  as  he  was  soon  to  perish. 
Juliet,  in  Romeo  and  Juliet,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  3,  refers  to  this  supersti- 
tion regarding  the  evil  sounds : — 

"For  these  many  hundred  years  the  bones 
Of  all  my  buried  ancestors  are  packed 

******** 

So  early  waking, — what  with  loathsome  smells, 

And  shrieks  like  mandrakes  torn  out  of  the  earth, 

That  living  mortals,  hearing  them  run  mad." 

It  was  esteemed  as  a  local  anesthetic,  having  been  given  as  a  wine 
of  mandragora  to  those  about  to  be  crucified. 

The  mandrake  or  mandragora  is  found  by  modern  investiga- 
tions to  possess  narcotic  properties — producing  in  some 
instances  hysterical  excitability — as  well  as  being  a  hypnotic 
similar  in  action  to  belladonna.  An  alkaloid  has  been 
extracted  which  has  properties  similar  to  the  mydriatics, 
atropin  and  hyoscyamin.  It  was  used  by  the  ancients  also  as 
an  aphrodisiac. 


Friar  Lawrence.     Now,  ere  the  sun  advance  his  burning  eye, 

The  day  to  cheer,  and  night's  dank  dew  to  dry, 

55 


I  ?  s—  rv 

• 


SHAKSPERE    IN    MEDICINE. 


I  must  up  fill  this  osier  cage  of  ours 

WTith  baleful  weeds,  and  precious-juiced  flowers^   _ 

Many  for  many  virtues  excellent, 
None  but  for  some,  and  yet  all  different, 
O,  mickle  is  the  powerful  grace  that  lies 
In  herbs,  plants,  stone,  and  their  true  qualities : 
******** 

Within  the  infant  rind  of  this  weak  flower 
Poison  hath  residence  and  med'cine  power; 
For  this,  being  smelt,  with  that  part  cheers  each  part ; 
Being  tasted,  slays  all  senses  with  the  heart. 

— Romeo  and  Juliet.  Act  II.,  Sc.  3. 

Friar  Lawrence.     Take  thou  this  phial,  being  then  in  bed, 
And  this  distilled  liquor  drink  thou  off: 
When,  presently,  through  all  thy  veins  shall  run 
A  cold  and  drowsy  humour,  for  no  pulse  shall  keep 
His  natural  progress,  but  surcease  to  beat : 
No  warmth,  no  breath,  shall  testify  thou  liv'st, 
The  roses  in  thy  lips  and  cheeks  shall  fade 
To  paly  ashes;  thy  eyes'  windows  fall, 
Like  death,  when  he  shuts  up  the  day  of  life; 
Each  part,  depriv'd  of  supple  government, 
Shall,  stiff,  and  stark,  and  cold,  appear  like  death. 
And  in  this  borrow'd  likeness  of  shrunk  death 
Thou  shalt  remain  full  two-and-forty-hours, 
And  then  awake  as  from  a  pleasant  sleep. 

— Romeo  and  Juliet,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  I. 

It  is  impossible  to  say  what,  if  any  drug  or  combination  of  drugs 
was  used  by  Friar  Lawrence  to  produce  this  semblance  of 
death  in  Juliet.  We  know  that  there  are  numerous  narcotics 
which  will  produce  prolonged  sleep,  but  in  all  cases  the 
pulse  is  in  evidence.  There  is  also  bodily  warmth  and 
breathing  which  can  be  determined.  Opium  which  was 
largely  used  in  Shakspere's  time  and  in  fact  for  centuries 
before  could  not  have  been  the  drug  here  described.  While 
opium  pushed  to  complete  narcosis  will  produce  apparent 
death,  there  would  surely  be  recovery  or  death  short  of  "two 
and  forty  hours."  Besides  this  semblance  of  death  would 
have  been  discovered  by  the  stertorous  breathing,  and  this 
alone  would  have  been  sufficient  to  disclose  to  Paris,  life  in 
Juliet. 

56 


SHAKSPERE   IN    MEDICINE. 


Mandragora  as  elsewhere  stated  was  regarded  as  a  most  powerful 
narcotic  and  anesthetic.  It  was  given  to  condemned  criminals 
before  their  execution  to  lessen  their  mental  distress,  but 
from  our  present  knowledge  of  this  drug  it  could  not  have 
produced  the  effects  described  by  Friar  Lawrence.  How- 
ever, we  must  make  a  certain  allowance  for  poetic  license, 
and  stand  amazed  at  so  complete  and  accurate  a  description 
of  drug  narcosis. 

It  has  occurred  to  me  that  the  condition  of  Juliet  was  brought 
about  through  hypnosis  or  suggestion.  We  know  that  a 
condition  of  catalepsy  can  be  produced  through  hypnosis 
and  that  this  state  could  exist  for  a  considerable  time  without 
injury  to  the  subject.  This  was  probably  what  was  resorted 
to  by  the  good  Friar.  Men  of  his  class  and  calling  were  well 
versed  in  occult  and  other  sciences,  in  fact  but  that  they 
were  more  or  less  conversant  with  science  and  thus  able  to 
pass  their  knowledge  to  their  successors  we  would  have 
lost  much  of  what  we  now  know  of  ancient  science,  art  and 
literature,  during  the  medieval  or  dark  ages  when  it  was 
only  the  church  that  was  able  to  preserve  this  knowledge. 


Romeo.    I  do  remember  an  apothecary, — 

And  hereabout  he  dwells, — whom  late  I  noted 
In  tatter'd  weeds,  with  overwhelming  brows, 
Culling  his  simples;  meagre  were  his  looks, 
Sharp  misery  had  worn  him  to  the  bones : 
And  in  his  needy  shop  a  tortoise  hung, 
An  Alligator  stuff'd,  and  other  skins 
Of  ill-shap'd  fishes ;  and  about  his  shelves 
A  beggarly  account  of  empty  boxes, 
Green  earthen  pots,  bladders,  and  musty  seeds, 
Remnants  of  packthread,  and  old  cakes  of  roses, 
Were  thinly  scattered  to  make  up  a  show. 
Noting  this  penury,  to  myself  I  said — 
An  if  a  man  did  need  a  poison  now, 
Whose  sale  is  present  death  in  Mantua, 
Here  lives  a  caitiff  wretch  would  sell  it  him. 
O,  this  same  thought  did  but  forerun  my  need; 
And  this  same  needy  man  must  sell  it  me. 
As  I  remember,  this  should  be  the  house; 
Being  holiday,  the  beggar's  shop  is  shut, — 
What,  ho!  apothecary! 

Apothecary.    Who  calls  so  loud? 

57 


SHAKSPERE   IN    MEDICINE. 


Romeo.     Come,  hither,  man. — I  see  that  thou  art  poor; 
Hold,  there  is  forty  ducats :  let  me  have 
A  dram  of  poison :  such  soon-speeding  gear 
As  will  dispose  itself  through  all  the  veins, 
That  the  life-weary  taker  may  fall  dead, 
And  that  the  trunk  may  be  discharg'd  of  breath 
As  violently,  as  hasty  powder  fir'd 
Doth  hurry  from  the  fatal  cannon's  womb. 

'Apothecary.    Such  mortal  drugs  I  have;  but  Mantua's  law 
Is  death  to  any  he  that  utters  them. 

Romeo.    Art  thou  so  bare  and  full  of  wretchedness, 
And  fear'st  to  die?    Famine  is  in  thy  cheeks, 
Need  and  oppression  stareth  in  thine  eyes, 
Upon  thy  back  hangs  ragged  misery ; 
The  world  is  not  thy  friend,  nor  the  world's  law ; 
The  world  affords  no  law  to  make  thee  rich; 
Then  be  not  poor,  but  break  it,  and  take  this. 

Apothecary.    My  poverty,  but  not  my  will,  consents. 

Romeo.    I  pay  thy  poverty,  and  not  thy  will. 

Apothecary.     Put  this  in  any  liquid  thing  you  will, 

And  drink  it  off;  and,  if  you  had  the  strength 
Of  twenty  men,  it  would  despatch  you  straight. 

Romeo.    There  is  thy  gold;  worse  poison  to  men's  souls, 
Doing  more  murther  in  this  loathsome  world, 
Than  these  poor  compounds  that  thou  mayst  not  sell: 
I  sell  thee  poison,  thou  hast  sold  me  none. 
Farewell ;  buy  food,  and  get  thyself  in  flesh. 
Come,  cordial,  and  not  poison ;  go  with  me 
To  Juliet's  grave,  for  there  I  must  use  thee. 

— Romeo  and  Juliet,  Act  V .,  Sc.  I. 

This  could  have  been  one  or  more  of  many  drugs.  It  was  probably 
aconite. 

Shakspere  has  given  us  much  of  his  knowledge  of  pharmacy,  in 
Romeo  and  Juliet.  Romeo's  description  of  the  apothecary 
is  familiar  to  all.  "A  beggarly  account  of  empty  boxes"  is 
still  much  in  evidence  in  the  drug  store.  As  we  advance  in 
hygienic  and  sanitary  knowledge  the  necessity  for  drugs 
becomes  less.  Were  it  not  for  the  cigar  case,  the  soda 
fountain,  the  toilet  goods  and  other  accessories  to  the  drug- 
store, there  would  be  fewer  stores. 


Romeo.  O,  true  apothecary  ! 

Thy  drugs  are  quick. — Thus  with  a  kiss  I  die. 

— Romeo  and  Juliet,  Act  V.,  Sc.  3. 

58 


SHAKSPERE    IN    MEDICINE. 


Ghost.  With  j  uice  of  cursed  hebenon, 

:  whose  effect 

Holds  such  an  enmity  with  blood  of  man 
That,  swift  as  quicksilver,  it  courses  through 
The  natural  gates  and  alleys  of  the  body; 
And,  with  a  sudden  vigour,  it  dost  posset 
And  curd,  like  aigre*  droppings  into  milk, 

The  thin  and  wholesome  blood : 

—Hamlet,  Act  /.,  Sc.  5. 

Hebenon  is  here  a  word  of  doubtful  meaning.  It  probably  refers 
to  henbane  or  hyoscyamus  niger.  The  quarto  editions 
of  Shakspere  have  it  hebona.  The  folio  which  I  prefer  to 
follow,  hebenon.  Henbane  is  a  poisonous  plant  especially 
destructive  to  domestic  fowls;  hence  this  name  henbane.  It 
does  not  produce  leprous  symptoms  as  detailed  by  the  Ghost, 
but  the  law  of  signatures — i.e.,  some  outward  sign  appearing 
on  plants,  minerals  and  other  objects,  superstitiously  believed 
in  ancient  times  to  indicate  a  medicinal  quality,  as  for 
instance,  the  yellow  color  of  certain  flowers  was  believed  to 
show  their  efficacy  in  jaundice — prevailed  in  Shakspere's 
time,  and  the  leprous  effects  may  have  been  founded  on  the 
clammy  appearance  of  the  plant. 

Dodoeus  decribed  a  species  of  yew  as  being  "altogether  venomous 
and  against  man's  nature.  Such  as  do  but  slepe  under  the 
shadow  thereof  become  sicke,  and  sometimes  they  die." 

Henbane  juice  was  used  by  the  Gauls  to  poison  their  arrows. 

Laertes.    And,  for  that  purpose,  I'll  anoint  my  sword. 
I  bought  an  unction  of  a  mountebank, 
So  mortal,  that  but  dip  a  knife  in  it, 
Where  it  draws  blood,  no  cataplasm  so  rare, 
Collected  from  all  simples  that  have  virtue 
Under  the  moon,  can  save  the  thing  from  death, 
That  is  but  scratch'd  withal:  I'll  touch  my  point 
With  this  contagion;  that,  if  I  gall  him  slightly, 
It  may  be  death. 

—Hamlet.,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  7. 

Certain  alkaloids  were  used,  among  them  curare,  by  the  South 
American  natives  to  anoint  their  arrow  points  when  at  war 
with  their  enemies.  One  wounded  by  these  arrows  was 
almost  sure  to  die  within  a  few  hours.  Blyth  states  in  his 

•Acid. 

59 


SHAKSPERE    IN    MEDICINE. 


work  on  poisons  that  the  early  savages  discovered  that 
weapons  soiled  with  the  blood  of  former  victims  made  wounds 
fatal.  From  these  observations  it  was  only  a  step  to  experi- 
ment with  plants,  etc.,  as  a  result  the  juices  of  several  plants 
were  found  to  cause  fatal  wounds. 


ANATOMY. 


Clown.  Thou  hast  spoken  for  us,  Madonna,  as  if  thy  eldest  son  should 
be  a  fool ;  whose  skull  Jove  cram  with  brains,  for  here  he  comes ;  one  of 
thy  kin  has  a  most  weak  pia  mater. 

—Twelfth  Night,  Act  L,  Sc.  5. 

Pia-mater  used  in  this  connection  refers  to  its  instrumentality  in 
the  intellectual  development  of  the  individual.  Pia-mater 
is  also  referred  to  in  Troilus  and  Cressida,  Act  II.,  Sc.  i. 


Hamlet.  My  fate  cries  out 

And  makes  each  petty  artery  in  this  body — 
As  hardy  as  the  Nemean  lion's  nerve. 

—Hamlet,  Act.  L,  Sc.  4. 


'Queen.    Your  bedded  hair,  like  life  in  excrements. 
Starts  up  and  stands  on  end, — 

—Hamlet,  Act  HI.,  Sc.  4. 


Antipholus  of  S.     Why  is  time  such  a  niggard  of  hair,  being,  as  it  is, 
so  plentiful  an  excrement? 

— Comedy  of  Errors,  Act  II. ,  Sc.  2. 


Autolycus.    Let  me  pocket  up  my  pedler's  excrement, 
(Takes  off  his  false  beard.) 

—Winter's  Tale,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  3. 


Armado.    ;  and  with  his  royal  finger,  thus,  dally  with  my 

excrement,  with  my  mustachio. 

— Love's  Labour  Lost,  Act  V.,  Sc.  I. 
60 


SHAKSPERE    IN    MEDICINE. 


Bassanio.    And  these  assume  but  valour's  excrement, 
To  render  them  redoubted. 

—Merchant  of  Venice,  Act  III.,  Sc.  2. 

The  word  excrement  is  frequently  used  by  Shakspere  to  describe 
the  hair  which  is  properly  an  excrementitious  substance. 
Excrement  is  defined  as  an  appendage  or  excrescence. 

Sir  Toby.     For  Andrew,  if  he  were  opened,  and  you  find  so  much  blood 
in  his  liver  as  will  clog  the  foot  of  a  flea,  I'll  eat  the  rest  of  the  anatomy. 

—Twelfth  Night,  Act  III.,  Sc.  2. 

Sir  Toby's  estimate  of  Sir  Andrew  Aguecheek's  courage  was  in 
no  way  exaggerated  as  the  meeting  between  him  and  Viola 
later  clearly  proves. 

The  liver  was  not  only  considered  the  seat  of  courage  but  of 
love,  and  for  the  liver  to  be  without  blood  was  to  indicate 
the  coward.  White  livered  (bloodless  livered)  was  a  com- 
mon epithet  applied  to  those  lacking  in  courage. 


PHYSIOLOGY. 

Brutus.  You  are  my  true  and  honorable  wife; 
As  dear  to  me  as  are  the  ruddy  drops 
That  visit  my  sad  heart. 

— Julius  Casar,  Act  II.,  Sc.  I. 

Shakspere  here  displays  what  seems  to  be  a  marvellous  acquaint- 
ance with  physiology  as  well  as  with  medicine.  The  last 
two  foregoing  lines,  as  quoted,  indicate  a  knowledge  of  the 
circulation  of  the  blood.  Again  in  Hamlet  (Act  L,  Sc.  5) 
we  find : 

"Holds  such  an  enmity  with  blood  of  man 

That  swift  as  quicksilver  it  courses  through 

The  natural  gates  and  alleys  of  the  body; 

And  with  a  sudden  vigor  it  doth  posset  (coagulate) 

And  curd,  like  aigre*  droppings  into  milk, 

The  thin  and  wholesome  blood ;" 

This  is  indeed  in  anticipation  of  Harvey.  The  play  of  Hamlet 
was  first  printed  in  1603  while  Harvey  made  known  his 

*Acid. 

6l 


SHAKSPERE    IN    MEDICINE. 


discovery  of  the  circulation  of  the  blood  in  1628,  although 
he  states  in  his  Exercitatio-Anatomisa  de  Motu  Cordis  ~et 
Sanguinis  that  he  had  for  nine  years  been  demonstrating  the 
subject  in  his  lectures  at  the  College  of  Physicians  in  London. 
Even  this  would,  if  allowed,  carry  him  back  only  as  far  as 
1619  or  sixteen  years  after  the  first  appearance  in  print  of 
Hamlet.  Julius  Caesar  was  first  published  in  1623. 
See  also  page  63  for  a  confirmation  of  Shakspere's  knowledge 
of  the  circulation  of  the  blood. 

Menenius.    There  was  a  time  when  all  the  body's  members 
Rebell'd  against  the  belly ;  thus  accus'd  it : — 
That  only  like  a  gulf  it  did  remain 
F  the  midst  o'  the  body,  idle  and  unactive, 
Still  cupboarding  the  viand,  never  bearing 
Like  labour  with  the  rest;  when  the  other  instruments 
Did  see  and  hear,  devise,  instruct,  walk,  feel, 
And  mutually  participate;  did  minister 
Unto  the  appetite  and  affection  common 
Of  the  whole  body.    The  belly  answered, — 
Second  Citizen.    Well,  sir,  what  answer  made  the  belly? 
Menenius.     Sir,  I  shall  tell  you. — With  a  kind  of  smile, 

Which  ne'er  came  from  the  lungs,  but  even  thus, 
(For  look  you,  I  may  make  the  belly  smile 
As  well  as  speak,)  it  tauntingly  replied 
To  the  discontented  members,  the  mutinous  parts 
That  envied  his  receipt ;  even  so  most  fitly 
As  you  malign  our  senators,  for  that 
They  are  not  such  as  you. 
Second  Citizen.    Your  belly's  answer:   What! 

The  kingly  crowned  head,  the  vigilant  eye, 
The  counsellor  heart,  the  arm  of  our  soldier, 
Our  steed  the  leg,  the  tongue  the  trumpeter, 
With  other  muniments  and  petty  helps 

In  this  our  fabric,  if  that  they 

Menenius.  When  then? — 

'Fore  me  this  fellow  speaks!— What  then?    What  then? 
Second  Citizen.     Should  by  the  cormorant  belly  be  restrain'd 

Who  is  the  sink  o'  the  body. 

Menenius.  Well,  what  then? 

Second  Citizen.    The  former  agents,  if  they  did  complain, 

What  could  the  belly  answer? 
Menenius.  I  will  tell  you; 

If  you'll  bestow  a  small  (of  what  3'ou  have  little, 
Patience  awhile,  you'll  hear  the  belly's  answer. 
******** 

62 


SHAKSPERE    IN    MEDICINE. 


Note  me  this,  good  friend, 
Your  most  grave  belly  was  deliberate, 
Not  rash  like  his  accusers,  and  thus  answer'd. 
"True  is  it,  my  incorporate  friends,"  quoth  he, 
"That  I  receive  the  general  food  at  first, 
Which  you  do  live  upon :  and  fit  it  is ; 
Because  I  am  the  storehouse,  and  the  shop 
Of  the  whole  body :     But  if  you  do  remember, 
I  send  it  through  the  rivers  of  your  blood, 
Even  to  the  court,  the  heart,  to  the  seat  o'  the  brain, 
And  through  the  cranks  and  offices  of  man : 
The  strongest  nerves,  and  small  inferior  veins 
From  me  receive  that  natural  competency 
Whereby  they  live:    And  though  that  all  at  once, 
You,  my  good  friends,  ("this  says  the  belly,")  mark  me, — 
********** 

"Though  all  at  once  cannot 
See  what  I  do  deliver  out  to  each ; 
Yet  can  I  make  my  audit  up,  that  all 
From  me  do  back  receive  the  flour  of  all, 
And  leave  me  but  the  bran." 

********* 

The  senators  of  Rome  are  this  good  belly, 
And  you  the  mutinous  members :    For  examine 
Their  councils  and  their  cares ;  digest  things  rightly, 
Touching  the  weal  o'  the  common;  you  shall  find, 
No  public  benefit,  which  you  receive, 
But  it  proceeds,  or  comes,  from  them  to  you, 
And  no  way  from  yourselves. — What  do  you  think? 
You,  the  great  toe  of  this  assembly? — 

— Coriolanus,  Act  I.,  Sc.  i. 

Truly,  here  is  a  startlingly  accurate  statement  of  digestion  and 
nutrition  and  the  part  played  by  the  intestines,  since  the  belly 
means  the  abdominal  cavity.  Here  also  is  confirmation  of 
Shakspere's  knowledge  of  the  circulation  of  the  blood : 

"I  send  it  through  the  rivers  of  your  blood 
Even  to  the  court,  the  heart." 

Capulet.     My  child  is  yet  a  stranger  in  the  world; 

She  hath  not  seen  the  change  of  fourteen  years. 
Let  two  more  summers  wither  in  their  pride, 
Ere  we  may  think  her  ripe  to  be  a  bride. 
Paris.     Younger  than  she  are  happy  mothers  made. 
Capulet.    And  too  soon  marr'd  are  those  so  early  made. 

— Romeo  and  Juliet,  Act  L,  Sc.  2. 
Puberty  is  here  placed  at  fourteen  years. 

63 


SHAKSPERE    IN    MEDICINE. 


Paulina. 


-Behold,  my  lords, 


Although  the  print  be  little,  the  whole  matter 

And  copy  of  the  father ;  eye,  nose,  lip, 

The  trick  of  his  frown,  his  forehead;  nay,  the  valley, 

The  pretty  dimples  of  his  chin  and  cheek;  his  smiles; 

The  very  mould  and  frame  of  hand,  nail,  finger ; 

And  thou,  good  goddess  Nature,  which  hast  made  it 

So  like  to  him  that  got  it,  if  thou  hast 

The  ordering  of  the  mind  too,  'mongst  all  colors 

No  yellow  in't;  lest  she  suspect,  as  he  does, 

Her  children  not  her  husband's ! 

—Winter's  Tale,  Act  II.,  Sc.  3. 

Inheritance  of  physical,  moral  and  mental  traits. 


Oberon.     And  the  blots  of  nature's  hand 
Shall  not  in  their  issue  stand; 
Nor  mole,  hare-lip,  nor  scar, 
Nor  mark  prodigious,  such  as  are 
Despised  in  nativity, 
Shall  upon  their  children  be. 

— Midsummer  Night's  Dream,  Act  V .,  Sc.  2. 


Bastard.    Madam,  I  was  not  old  Sir  Robert's  son ; 
Sir  Robert  might  have  eat  his  part  in  me 
Upon  Good  Friday,  and  ne'er  broke  his  fast : 
Could  he  get  me  ?    Sir  Robert  could  not  do  it ; 
We  know  his  handy- work : — Therefore,  good  mother, 
To  whom  am  I  beholden  for  these  limbs  ? 
Sir  Robert  never  holp  to  make  this  leg. 

—King  John,  Act  I.,  Sc.  I. 

The  law  of  heredity  is  here  clearly  stated. 


Lepidus.     I  must  not  think  there  are 

Evils  enow  to  darken  all  his  goodness : 
His  faults,  in  him,  seem  as  the  spots  of  heaven, 
More  fiery  by  night's  blackness ;  hereditary 
Rather  than  purchased ;  what  he  cannot  change, 
Than  what  he  chooses. 

— Antony  and  Cleopatra,  Act  L,  Sc.  4. 


Holof ernes.    This  is  a  gift  that  I  have,  simple,  simple;  a  foolish  ex- 
travagant spirit,  full  of  forms,  figures,  shapes,  objects,  ideas,  apprehensions, 

64 


SHAKSPERE    IN    MEDICINE. 


motions,  revolutions :  these  are  begot  in  the  ventricle  of  memory,  nourished 
in  the  womb  of  pia  mater,  and  delivered  upon  the  mellowing  of  occasion: 

—Love's  Labour  Lost,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  2. 

Pia  mater,  (dutiful  or  kind  mother)  is  elsewhere  used  by  Shak- 
spere  but  with  entirely  different  meaning.  In  Twelfth  Night, 
Act  I.,  Sc.  5,  for  instance,  it  refers  to  the  brain  or  rather, 
intellect.  The  Clown  declares  to  Olivia  "You  have  a  relative 
with  a  most  weak  pia-mater."  Here,  however,  it  refers  to 
the  membrane  covering  the  brain. 

The  belief  was  and  is  that  the  brain  is  nourished  through  the  pia 
mater,  hence  to  have  a  weak  pia  mater  was  to  have  a  weak 
intellect. 

The  ventricle  of  memory  refers  to  an  ancient  theory  that  there 
were  only  three  ventricles  in  the  brain.  In  the  first  ventricle 
we  had  the  origin  of  the  "five  wits"  or  special  senses,  in  the 
second,  thought,  and  in  the  third,  memory  (Ventricle  of 
memory). 

This  evidence — profound  as  it  is — of  the  Master's  knowledge  of 
the  physiology  of  the  brain  is  but  one  of  many  evidences  of 
his  prodigious  learning.  How  and  where  he  found  opportuni- 
ties to  acquire  such  knowledge  amazes  even  the  learned  of 
to-day.  If  other  evidence  of  Shakspere's  right  to  membership 
in  the  Guild  of  Medicine  were  wanting,  this  and  the  reference 
to  the  physiological  functions  of  digestion  and  assimilation 
as  exhibited  in  Coriolanus,  Act  I.,  Sc.  I,  would  be  amply 
sufficient. 


Suffolk.    For  Henry,  son  unto  a  conqueror, 
Is  likely  to  beget  more  conquerors, 
If  with  a  lady  of  so  high  resolve 
As  is  fair  Margaret  he  be  link'd  in  love. 

—Part  First,  King  Henry  Sixth,  Act  V,,  Sc.  5. 

Second  Lord.    That  such  a  crafty  devil  as  is  his  mother 

Should  yield  the  world  this  ass!  a  woman,  that 
Bears  all  down  with  her  brain;  and  this  her  son 
Cannot  take  two  from  twenty  for  his  heart, 
And  leave  eighteen. 

—Cymbeline,  Act  II. ,  Sc.  I. 

Showing  absence  of  hereditary  traits  of  character ;  thus  reversing 
the  law  of  heredity. 

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SHAKSPERE    IN    MEDICINE. 


Duchess.     He  is  my  son,  ay,  and  therein  my  shame, 
Yet  from  my  dugs  he  drew  not  this  deceit. 

—King  Richard  Third,  Act  II.,  Sc.  2. 

Here  we  have  our  attention  directed  to  the  belief  still  held  by 
many,  that  mental  and  moral  traits  of  character  are  influenced 
through  the  character  of  her  who  suckles  the  child. 


Friar.    I  have  marked 

A  thousand  blushing  apparitions  start 
Into  her  face;  a  thousand  innocent  shames 
In  angel  whiteness  bear  away  those  blushes ; 
And  in  her  eye  there  hath  appear'd  a  fire, 
To  burn  the  errors  that  these  princes  hold 
Against  her  maiden  truth : 

—Much  Ado  About  Nothing,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  I. 

We  have  here  evidence  that  the  Master  was  a  keen  observer. 

Charmian.     Nay,   if  an   oily  palm  be  not   fruitful  prognostication,   I 
cannot  scratch  mine  ear. 

— Antony  and  Cleopatra,  Act  I.,  Sc.  2. 

A  moist  or  oily  palm  was  considered  an  evidence  of  fruitfulness. 

Othello.     Give  me  your  hand:    This  hand  is  moist  my  lady. 
Desdemona.    It  yet  has  felt  no  age,  nor  known  no  sorrow. 
Othello.    This  argues  fruitfulness,  and  liberal  heart: 

Hot,  hot  and  moist ;  this  hand  of  yours  requires 

A  sequester  from  liberty,  fasting  and  prayer, 

Much  castigation,  exercise  devout; 

For  here's  a  young  and  sweating  devil  here, 

That  commonly  rebels. 

—Othello,  Act  III.,  Sc.  4. 


Lear.    Hear,  Nature,  hear;  dear  goddess,  hear! 
Suspend  thy  purpose,  if  thou  did'st  intend 
To  make  this  creature  fruitful ! 
Into  her  womb  convey  sterility ; 
Dry  up  in  her  the  organs  of  increase; 
And  from  her  derogate  body  never  spring 
A  babe  to  honor  her !    If  she  must  teem, 
Create  her  child  of  spleen,  that  it  may  live, 

66 


SHAKSPERE    IN    MEDICINE. 


And  be  a  thwart  disnatur'd  torment  to  her! 
Let  it  stamp  wrinkles  in  her  brow  of  youth ; 
With  cadent  tears  fret  channels  in  her  cheeks  ; 
Turn  all  her  mother's  pains  and  benefits 
To  laughter  and  contempt ;  thus  she  may  feel 
How  sharper  than  a  serpent's  tooth  it  is 
To  have  a  thankless  child ! — 

— King  Lear,  Act  I.,  Sc.  4. 

Lear's  curse,  an  unequalled  effort,  so  horrible  in  its  conception 
and  forceful  in  its  execution,  is  inserted  as  an  evidence  of  the 
Master's  versatility,  as  well  as  its  reference  to  physiological 
processes. 


Theseus.    Therefore,  fair  Hermia,  question  your  desires. 
Know  of  your  youth,  examine  well  your  blood, 
Whether,  if  you  yield  not  to  your  father's  choice, 
You  can  endure  the  livery  of  a  nun ; 
For  aye  to  be  in  shady  cloister  mew'd, 
To  live  a  barren  sister  all  your  life, 
Chanting  faint  hymns  to  the  cold  fruitless  moon. 
Thrice  blessed  they,  that  master  so  their  blood, 
To  undergo  such  maiden  pilgrimage: 
But  earthlier  happy  is  the  rose  distill'd, 
Than  that,  which,  withering  on  the  virgin  thorn, 
Grows,  lives  and  dies,  in  single  blessedness. 

— Midsummer  Night's  Dream,  Act  L,  Sc.  i. 

That  it  is  not  good  for  man  to  dwell  alone  may  be  better  said  of 
woman.  Speaking  only  of  the  physical  side  and  leaving  the 
moral  issue  to  other  and  more  competent  minds,  my  observa- 
tion is  that  the  desire  for  maternity  is  natural  to  woman. 
This  is  strikingly  apparent  from  the  earliest  age.  The 
care  bestowed  upon  the  doll  by  the  child  is  evidently  but  a 
beginning  of  this  physiological  demand,  for  the  mature 
woman  is  but  the  accentuated  child.  She  has  outgrown  the 
doll  with  its  miniature  cradle  and  baby  carriage  which  gave 
so  much  pleasure  and  yearns  for  a  child  of  her  own,  flesh 
of  her  flesh,  blood  of  her  blood.  This  desire  of  maternity 
is  one  of  nature's  laws.  An  attachment  to  some  constant 
object  is  demanded  which  is  to  last  through  life,  and  in 
maternity  is  again  the  babe  to  be  followed  by  the  doll,  make- 
believe  housekeeping  all  to  the  end  that  such  wise  laws  as 

67 


SHAKSPERE    IN    MEDICINE. 


governs  our  existence  may  be  again  and  again  made  active. 
The  Master  gives  us  some  beautiful  examples  of  perfect  love 
and  enduring  attachment.  Rosalind,  Ophelia,  Desdemona, 
Viola,  Olivia  and  our  sweet  Juliet.  These  are  the  women  to 
whom  men  can  bear  eternal  allegiance,  it  is  not  to  the  Ladies 
Macbeth. 


Caesar.    Let  me  have  men  about  me  that  are  fat ; 

Sleek-headed  men,  and  such  as  sleep  o'  nights: 
Yond  Cassius  has  a  lean  and  hungry  look; 
He  thinks  too  much :  such  men  are  dangerous. 

— Julius  Casar,  Act  I.,  Sc.  2. 


Falstaff.  Will  yon  tell  me,  master  Shallow,  how  to  choose  a  man? 
Care  I  for  the  limb,  the  thewes,  the  stature,  bulk  and  big  assemblance  of  a 
man!  Give  me  the  spirit,  master  Shallow. — Here's  Wart; — you  see  what 
a  ragged  appearance  it  is :  he  shall  charge  you,  and  discharge  you,  with  the 
motion  of  a  pewterer's  hammer;  come  off,  and  on,  swifter  than  he  that 
gibbets  on  the  brewer's  bucket.  And  the  same  half- faced  fellow,  Shallow, — 
give  me  this  man ;  he  presents  no  mark  to  the  enemy ;  the  foeman  may  with 
as  great  aim  level  at  the  edge  of  a  penknife.  And,  for  a  retreat, — how 
swiftly  will  this  Feeble,  the  woman's  tailor  run  off!  O,  give  me  the  spare 
man,  and  spare  me  the  great  ones. 

— Part  Second,  King  Henry  Fourth,  Act  III.,  Sc.  2. 

The  best  and  most  enduring  soldiers  are  those  of  spare  build. 


Bassanio.    How  many  cowards,  whose  hearts  are  all  as  false 
As  stayers  of  sand,  wear  yet  upon  their  chins 
The  beards  of  Hercules  and  frowning  Mars, 
Who  inward  search'd  have  livers  white  as  milk. 

—Merchant  of  Venice,  Act  III.,  Sc.  2. 

In  the  folio  edition  "Stayers  of  sand"  appears  instead  of  stairs  in 
the  quarto.  Stayers  seems  to  convey  the  meaning  rather  than 
stairs.  Stair  is  from  the  Anglo-Saxon  stigan  to  ascend,  while 
stay — thence  stayer — from  the  Teutonic  stehen,  to  stand. 
Here  are  cowards,  not  stayers.  "Stayers  of  sand"  mean  vain 
defenses  of  sand  to  be  easily  overthrown,  notwithstanding 
they  represent  men  with  warlike  beards  and  frames. 

Shylock.     Some  men  there  are  love  not  a  gaping  pig; 
Some,  that  are  mad  if  they  behold  a  cat; 

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SHAKSPERE    IN    MEDICINE. 


And  others,  when  the  bagpipe  sings  i'  the  nose, 

Cannot  contain  their  urine;  for  affection, 

Master  of  the  passions,  sways  it  to  the  mood 

Of  what  it  likes,  or  loathes.     Now  for  your  answer. 

As  there  is  no  firm  reason  to  be  render'd, 

Why  he  cannot  abide  a  gaping  pig; 

Why  he,  a  harmless  necessary  cat ; 

Why  he  a  woollen  bagpipe, — but  of  force 

Must  yield  to  such  inevitable  shame, 

As  to  offend,  himself  being  offended ; 

— Merchant  of  Venice,  Act  IV '.,  Sc.  4. 

Numerous  historic  references  could  be  cited  of  the  eccentricities 
of  men,  and  Shakspere  but  refers  to  what  is  well  recognized 
by  the  medical  man. 

Malvolio.    This  does  make  some  obstruction  in  the  blood, 
This  cross-gartering. 

—Twelfth  Night,  Act  III.,  Sc.  4. 

Those  who  for  fashion's  sake  war  upon  nature,  must  needs  pay  the 
penalty. 


Menenius.     He  was  not  taken  well ;  he  had  not  dined : 
The  veins  unfill'd,  our  blood  is  cold  and  then 
We  pout  upon  the  morning,  are  unapt 
To  give  or  to  forgive;  but  when  we  have  stuff'd 
These  pipes  and  these  conveyances  of  our  blood 
With  wine  and  feeding,  we  have  suppler  souls 
Than  in  our  priest-like  fasts;  therefore  I'll  watch  him 
'Till  he  be  dieted  to  my  request, 
And  then  I'll  set  upon  him. 

— Coriolanus,  Act  V.,  Sc.  I. 

Menenius  had  evidently  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  post- 
prandial temper  of  the  good  liver. 

Hamlet.    I'll  tent  him  to  the  quick;  if  he  do  blench, 
I  know  my  course. 

—Hamlet,  Act  III.,  Sc.  2. 

To  tent  or  probe,  in  this  instance  refers  to  an  attack  on  the 
King's  conscience,  to  accuse  him  of  his  supposed  crime.  If 
he  do  blench  (blanch)  turn  white  or  pale  with  fear  at  the 

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SHAKSPERE    IN    MEDICINE. 


accusing,  Hamlet  will  be  convinced  of  his  guilt  and  know 
what  course  to  pursue. 

King  John.     Or  if  that  surly  spirit,  melancholy, 

Had  bak'd  thy  blood,  and  made  it  heavy,  thick; 
(Which,  else,  runs  trickling  up  and  down  the  veins, 
Making  that  idiot,  laughter,  keep  men's  eyes, 
And  strain  their  cheeks  to  idle  merriment, 
A  passion  hateful  to  my  purposes;) 

— King  John,  Act  JIL,  Sc.  3 

The  reader  will  refer  to  the  comments  on  the  circulation  of  the 
blood  on  page  61. 


Adam.    Though  I  look  old,  yet  I  am  strong  and  lusty; 
For  in  my  youth  I  never  did  apply 
Hot  and  rebellious  liquor  in  my  blood; 
Nor  did  not  with  unbashful  forehead  woo 
The  means  of  weakness  and  debility; 
Therefore  my  age  is  as  a  lusty  winter, 
Frosty  but  kindly: 

—As  You  Like  It,  Act  II.,  Sc.  2. 

What  a  temperance  lecture  is  here  given  us. 

Antony.    What,  girl?  though  gray 

Do  something  mingle  with  our  young  brown ; 
Yet  ha'  we  a  brain  that  nourishes  our  nerves, 
And  can  get  goal  for  goal  of  youth. 

—Antony  and  Cleopatra,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  8. 

Comment  is  unnecessarv. 


Duchess.    Have  we  more  sons?  or  are  we  like  to  have? 
Is  not  my  teeming  date  drank  up  with  time? 
And  wilt  thou  pluck  my  fair  son  from  mine  age, 
And  rob  me  of  a  happy  mother's  name? 

— King  Richard  Second,  Act  V.,  Sc.  2. 

Cessation  of  childbearing  and  approach  of  the  menopause. 

Jacques.    All  the  world's  a  stage, 

And  all  the  men  and  women  merely  players : 

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SHAKSPERE    IN    MEDICINE. 


They  have  their  exits,  and  their  entrances; 
And  one  man  in  his  time  plays  many  parts, 
His  acts  being  seven  ages.    At  first,  the  infant, 
Mewling  and  puking  in  the  nurse's  arms; 
.  Then  the  whining  school-boy,  with  his  satchel, 
And  shining  morning  face,  creeping  like  snail 
Unwillingly  to  school;  and  then,  the  lover, 
Sighing  like  furnace,  with  a  woeful  ballad 
Made  to  his  mistress'  eyebrow :  then,  a  soldier ; 
Full  of  strange  oaths,  and  bearded  like  a  pard, 
Jealous  in  honor,  sudden  and  quick  in  quarrel, 
Seeking  the  bubble  reputation 

Even  in  the  cannon's  mouth:  and  then,  the  justice; 
In  fair  round  belly,  with  good  capon  lin'd, 
With  eyes  severe,  and  beard  of  formal  cut, 
Full  of  wise  saws  and  modern  instances, 
And  so  he  plays  his  part :   The  sixth  age  shifts 
Into  the  lean  and  slipper'd  pantaloon  ; 
With  spectacles  on  nose,  and  pouch  on  side; 
His  youthful  hose  well  sav'd,  a  world  too  wide 
For  his  shrunk  shank;  and  his  big  manly  voice, 
Turning  towards  childish  treble,  pipes 
And  whistles  in  his  sound :  last  scene  of  all, 
That  ends  this  strange  eventful  history, 
Is  second  childishness,  and  mere  oblivion ; 
Sans  teeth,  sans  eyes,  sans  taste,  sans  everything. 

— As  You  Like  It,  Act  II.,  Sc.  7. 

From  birth  to  senile  decay.  This  marvellously  constructed  history 
of  man  is  inserted,  as  it  gives  us  all  of  life  from  the  cradle 
to  the  grave,  with  so  much  of  truth,  that  it  may  as  properly 
have  place  in  a  work  of  this  kind  as  some  quotations  whose 
meaning  is  rather  obscure. 


Pinch.    Give  me  your  hand,  and  let  me  feel  your  pulse. 

— Comedy  of  Errors,  Act  IV. ,  Sc.  4. 


Host.     : your  pulsidge  beats  as  extraordinarily  as  heart  would 

desire. 

— Part  Second,  King  Henry  Fourth,  Act  II.,  Sc.  4. 


Alonzo.  thy  pulse 

Beats,  as  of  flesh  and  blood; 

—Tempest,  Act  V .,  Sc.  I. 

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SHAKSPERE    IN    MEDICINE. 


Pericles.     But  are  you  flesh  and  blood? 

Have  you  a  working  pulse?  and  are  no  fairy-motion? 

—Pericles,  Act  V.,  Sc.  i. 


HYGIENE    AND    DIETETICS. 


Longsville.    Fat  paunches  have  lean  pates;  and  dainty  bits 
Make  rich  the  ribs,  but  banker  out  the  wits. 

Love's  Labour  Lost,  Act  Lf  Sc.  I. 


King.  So  it  is,  besieged  with  sable-colored  melancholy,  I  did  com- 
mend the  black-oppressing  humour  to  the  most  wholesome  physic  of  thy 
health-giving  air;  and,  as  I  am  a  gentleman,  betook  myself  to  walk. 

— Love's  Labour  Lost,  Act  I.,  Sc.  I. 


Biron.     Say,  can  you  fast?  your  stomachs  are  too  young; 
And  abstinence  engenders  maladies. 

********* 

Why,  universal  plodding  prisons  up 
The  nimble  spirits  in  the  arteries. 

— Love's  Labour  Lost,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  3. 


Tjtania.    ,  have  sucked  up  from  the  sea, 

Contagious  fogs. 

******** 
**** .  an(j  tke  green  corn 

Hath  rotted  ere  his  youth  attain'd  a  beard : 
The  fold  stands  empty  in  the  drowned  field. 
And  crows  are  fatted  with  the  murrion  flock; 
The  nine  men's  morris  is  rilled  up  with  mud; 
And  the  quaint  mazes  in  the  wanton  green, 
For  lack  of  tread,  are  undistinguishable : 
The  human  mortals  want;  their  winter  here, 
No  night  is  now  with  hymn  or  carol  blest : — 
That  rheumatic  diseases  do  abound : 
And  through  this  distemperature,  we  see 
The  seasons  alter:  hoary-headed  frosts 
Fall  in  the  fresh  lap  of  the  crimson  rose; 
And  on  old  Hyem's  thin  and  icy  crown, 
An  odorless  chaplet  of  sweet  summer  buds, 
Is,  as  in  mockery  set :  The  spring,  the  summer, 

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SHAKSPERE    IN    MEDICINE. 


The  childing  autumn,  angry  winter,  change 
Their  wonted  liveries. 

— Midsummer  Night's  Dream,  Act  II.,  Sc.  2. 


Evidently  a  very  unhealthy  place. 


Demitrius.    But,  like  in  sickness,  did  I  loathe  this  food 
But,  as  in  health,  come  to  my  natural  taste, 
Now  do  I  wish  it,  love  it,  long  for  it, 
And  will  for  evermore  be  true  to  it. 

— Midsummer  Night's  Dream,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  I. 


Sir  Andrew.  Methinks  sometimes  I  have  no  more  wit  than  a  Christian 
or  an  ordinary  man  has ;  but  I  am  a  great  eater  of  beef,  and  I  believe  that 
does  harm  to  my  wit. 

.—Twelfth  Night,  Act  L,  Sc.  5. 

We  find  a  reference  to  the  effects  of  beef  eating  also  in  Troilus 
and  Cressida,  Act  II.  "Thou  mongrel  beef-witted  lord!" 
while  "with  no  more  wit  than  an  ox"  is  often  quoted.  Halli- 
well  quotes  Borde  in  Jhe  Regyment  of  Healthe  1567  (Regi- 
men of  Health)  "Beefe  is  good  meate  for  an  Englyshman,  so 
be  it  the  beeste  be  yonge,  and  that  it  be  not  cow  flesshe,  for  old 
beefe  and  cowe  flesshe  doth  engendre  melancholy  and  lep- 
rouse  humours."  All  of  which  would  lead  us  to  understand 
that  a  too  constant  diet  of  beef  was  not  conducive  to  a  perfect 
or  active  mental  state  or  to  a  quick  wit. 


Nerissa.  And  yet,  for  aught  I  see,  they  are  as  sick  that  surfeit  with 
too  much,  as  they  that  starve  with  nothing :  It  is  no  small  happiness,  there- 
fore to  be  sated  in  the  mean ;  superfluity  comes  sooner  by  white  hairs,  but 
competency  lives  longer. 

— Merchant  of  Venice,  Act  L,  Sc.  2. 

This  aphorism  applies  to-day  as  well  as  in  Shakspere's  time. 


Second  Lord.    But  I  am  sure,  the  younger  of  our  nature, 

That  surfeit  on  their  ease,  will,  day  by  day, 
Come  here  for  physic. 

—All's  Well  That  Ends  Well,  Act  III.,  Sc.  I. 

The  medicine  meant  here  is  not  necessarily  a  cathartic. 

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SHAKSPERE    IN    MEDICINE. 


Petruchio.     I  tell  thee,  Kate,  'twas  burnt  and  dried  away; 
And  I  expressly  am  forbid  to  touch  it, 
For  it  engenders  choler,  planteth  anger; 
And  better  'twere  that  both  of  us  did  fast, 
Since  of  ourselves,  ourselves  are  choleric, 
Than  feed  it  with  such  over-roasted  flesh. 

—Taming  of  the  Shrew,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  I. 

We  have  here  the  mental  effect  rather  than  the  physical  in  being 
compelled  to  eat  of  "burnt  meat." 


Clown.    ;  that  such  a  one,  and  such  a  one,  were  past  cure 

of  the  things  you  wot  of,  unless  they  keep  very  good  diet. 

— Measure  for  Measure,  Act  II.,  Sc.  i. 


Hotspur. ;  worse  than  the  sun  in  March, 

This  praise  doth  nourish  agues. 

—Part  First,  King  Henry  Fourth,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  I. 


Falstaff.    ,  for  I'll  purge,  and  leave  sack  and  live  cleanly,  as 

a  nobleman  should  do. 

—Part  First,  King  Henry  Fourth,  Act  V.,  Sc.  5. 

Even  to  this  day  it  is  thought  that  purging  and  tonics  or  blood 
purifiers  taken  in  the  spring  prepares  one  to  enjoy  good  health 
the  rest  of  the  year. 


Falstaff.  There's  never  any  of  these  demure  boys  come  to  any  proof; 
for  thin  drink  doth  so  over-cool  their  blood,  and  making  many  fish-meals, 
that  they  fall  into  a  kind  of  male  green-sickness;  and  then,  when  they 
marry,  they  get  wenches ;  they  are  generally  fools  and  cowards ; — which 
some  of  us  should  be  too,  but  for  inflammation. 


If  I  had  a  thousand  sons,  the  first  human  principle  I  would  teach  them 
should  be, — to  forswear  thin  potations,  and  to  addict  themselves  to  sack. 
— Part  Second,  King  Henry  Fourth,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  3. 

There  is  no  need  nowadays  to  teach  young  men  "to  forswear  thin 
potations."  The  omnipresent  cocktail  could  not  be  con- 
sidered such. 

74 


SHAKSPERE    IN    MEDICINE. 


Cardinal  Wolsey.  Sir, 

For  holy  offices  I  have  a  time ;  a  time 
To  think  upon  the  part  of  business,  which 
I  hear  i'  the  state ;  and  nature  doth  require 
Her  time  of  preservation,  which,  perforce, 
I,  her  frail  son,  amongst  my  brethren  mortal, 
Must  give  my  tendance  to. 

—King  Henry  Eighth,  Act  III.,  Sc.  2. 


Timon.     (To  Alcibiades)    Be  as  planetary  plague,  when  Jove 
Will  o'er  some  high  vic'd  city  hang  the  poison 
In  the  sick  air. 

—Timon  of  Athens,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  3. 

Hastings.    The  king  is  sickly,  weak,  and  melancholy, 

And  his  physicians  fear  him  mightily. 
Gloster.    O,  he  hath  kept  an  evil  diet  long, 

And  over  much  consumed  his  royal  person; 

-King  Richard  Third,  Act  L,  Sc.  l. 


Coriolanus.     Bid  them  wash  their  faces, 

And  keep  their  teeth  clean, — 

— Coriolanus,  Act  II.,  Sc.  3. 


Coriolanus.    ,  against  those  measles 

Which  we  disdain  should  tetter  us,  yet  sought 
The  very  way  to  catch  them. 

— Coriolanus,  Act  III.,  Sc. 


Portia.    What  mean  you?    Wherefore  rise  you  now? 
It  is  not  for  your  health  thus  to  commit 
Your  weak  condition  to  the  raw-cold  morning. 

******** 

Is  Brutus  sick?  and  is  it  physical 
To  walk  unbraced,  and  suck  up  the  humours 
Of  the  dank  morning?    What,  is  Brutus  sick, 
And  he  will  steal  out  of  his  wholesome  bed, 
To  dare  the  vile  contagion  of  the  night? 
And  tempt  the  rheumy  and  unpurged  air 
To  add  unto  his  sickness? 

— Julius  Cccsar,  Act  II.,  Sc.  1. 

Recent  experiments  and  researches  show  that  malaria  is  not  found 

75 


SHAKSPERE    IN    MEDICINE. 


alone  in  the  "humours  of  the  dank  morning"  but  that  it 
results  through  the  agency  of  mosquitoes.  Brutus,  however, 
must  needs  meet  with  the  conspirators. 


".  Pompeius.    But  all  the  charms  of  love, 

Salt  Cleopatra,  soften  thy  wan'd  lips! 

Let  witchcraft  join  with  beauty,  lust  with  both! 

Tie  up  the  libertine  in  a  field  of  feasts ; 

Keep  his  brain  fuming;  Epicurean  cooks 

Sharpen  with  cloyless  sauce  his  appetite; 

That  sleep  and  feeding  may  prorogue  his  honour, 

Even  till  a  Lethe'd  dulness. 

— Antony  and  Cleopatra,  Act  II.,  Sc.  I. 


King.    Haply,  the  seas,  and  countries  different, 
With  variable  objects,  shall  expel 
This  something-settled  matter  in  his  heart; 
Whereon  his  brains  still  beating,  puts  him  thus 
From  fashion  of  himself. 

—Hamlet,  Act  III.,  Sc.  i. 

As  in  Shakspere's  day,  now  we  advise  a  change  of  scenery  and  air 
for  the  invalid.  A  sea  voyage  is  often  sufficient  to  cure  many 
obscure  troubles  while  an  absence  from  domestic  and  business 
cares  is  conducive  to  a  return  of  health. 


ETHICS. 


Mrs.  Quickly.    Nay,  said  I,  will  you  cast  away  your  child  on  a  fool 
and  a  physician? 

— Merry  Wives  of  Windsor,  Act  III.,  Sc.  4. 


King.    But  may  not  be  so  credulous  of  cure, 

When  our  most  learned  doctors  leave  us;  and 
The  congregated  college  has  concluded 
That  laboring  art  can  never  ransom  nature 
From  her  inaidable  estate, — I  say  we  must  not 
So  strain  our  judgment,  or  corrupt  our  hope, 
To  prostitute  our  past  cure  malady 
To  empirics;  or  to  dissever  so 


SHAKSPERE    IN    MEDICINE. 


Our  great  self  and  our  credit,  to  esteem 

A  senseless  help,  when  help  past  sense  we  deem. 

— All's  Well  That  Ends  Well,  Act  III.,  Sc.  i. 

The  King  had  evidently  no  confidence  in  quacks  but  was  willing 
to  trust  himself  to  those  of  the  "congregated  college"  or  the 
educated  physician. 


Song.    The  sceptre,  learning,  physic,  must 
All  follow  this,  and  come  to  dust. 

—Cymbeline,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  2. 

The  King,  the  scholar  and  the  physician  must  all  die ;  Shakspere 
places  the  physician  in  good  company,  certainly,  and  rightly 
so. 


Cymbeline.    Whom  worse  than  a  physician. 

Would  this  report  become?  But  I  consider, 
By  medicine  life  may  be  prolonged,  yet  death 
Will  seize  the  doctor  too. — 

—Cymbeline,  Act  V.,  Sc.  5. 


Pericles.    Thou  speak'st  like  a  physician,  Helicanus; 
Who  minister'st  a  potion  unto  me 
That  thou  would'st  tremble  to  receive  thyself. 

—Pericles,  Prince  of  Tyre,  Act  I.,  Sc.  2. 


Kent.    Kill  thy  physician,  and  the  fee  bestow 
Upon  the  foul  disease. 

—King  Lear,  Act  I.,  Sc.  I. 


MEDICAL    JURISPRUDENCE. 


Polixenses.    Is  not  your  father  grown  incapable 

Of  reasonable  affairs?    Is  he  not  stupid 
With  age  and  altering  rheums  ?    Can  he  speak  ?  hear  ? 
Know  man  from  man?  dispute  his  own  estate? 
Lies  he  not  bed- rid?  and  again  does  nothing, 
But  what  he  did  being  childish? 

—Winter's  Tale,  Act  IV.,  Sc.  3. 

77 


SHAKSPERE    IN    MEDICINE. 


Warwick.    See,  how  the  blood  is  settled  in  his  face! 
Oft  have  I  seen  a  timely-parted  ghost,* 
Of  ashy  semblance,  meager,  pale,  and  bloodless, 
Being  all  descended  to  the  laboring  heart; 
Who,  in  the  conflict  that  it  holds  with  death, 
Attracts  the  same  for  aidance  'gainst  the  enemy; 
Which  with  the  heart  there  cools,  and  ne'er  returneth 
To  blush  and  beautify  the  cheek  again. 
But  see,  his  face  is  black,  and  full  of  blood ; 
His  eyeballs  further  out  than  when  he  liv'd, 
Staring  full  ghastly  like  a  strangled  man: 
His  hair  uprear'd,  his  nostrils  stretch'd  with  struggling; 
His  hands  abroad  display'd,  as  one  that  gasp'd 
And  tugg'd  for  life,  and  was  by  strength  subdued. 
Look  on  the  sheets,  his  hair,  you  see,  is  sticking; 
His  well-proportion'd  beard  made  rough  and  rugged, 
Like  the  summer's  corn  by  tempest  lodg'd 
It  cannot  be  but  he  was  murder'd  here ; 
The  least  of  all  these  signs  were  probable. 

— Part  Second,  King  Henry  Sixth,  Act  IIL,  Sc.  2. 

Here  again  is  shown  the  marvellous  versatility  of  Shakspere,  for 
no  clearer  or  more  exact  description  is  given  anywhere  and 
with  such  detail  of  a  case  of  sudden  death,  without  apparent 
wound,  bruise  or  the  suspicion  of  poison. 

•Corse. 


78 


INDEX  OF  DISEASES  AND  SUBJECTS 


Page 

26 

Desire  for  ^Vlu.ternitv 

r  -3 

Acquired  Traits     - 

JO 

-    66 

Dietetics 

Alcohol     

51 

Difficult  Labor 

A                  +     4-* 

Digestion       • 

m^ 

Anatomy  

60 

Dropsy 

Anodynes 

48 

Dyspepsia     - 

Antitoxin      .... 

-      12 

Aphrodisiac  -        -        -        • 
Apoplexy 
Apothecary   .... 
Apprehensions 

48-51 
10 
-      58 

16 

60 

Emotions 
Empyema          •        • 
Enema 
Epidemics 
Epilepsy        -        -        - 

Ethics       ... 

Beef  Eating       .... 

73 

Excrement    -        - 

Belly     

13  "A.V 

-    62 

Faulty  Circulation 

±>irtn         - 

41 

Fever       -        -        - 

Blood        

61 

Fistula          •        - 

Blushing 

-    66 

Fracture   - 

Boils     

-      6 

Fruitfulness  - 

Bone  Aches       .... 

ii 

Functional  Disturbances 

Brain  Activity 

-    68 

Brains        

34 

Gangrene 

Bubonic  Plague     - 

-      5 

Goitre   - 

Gonorrhea 

Caesarian   Section      ... 

45 

Gout     - 

Catalepsy       .... 

-     10 

Growth  and  Decay  - 

Cataract    ----- 

28 

Chamomile             .        .        . 

53 

Hair      -        -,        - 

Change  of  Scenery  - 

76 

Heart 

Chemistry 

50 

Heartburn                       » 

Child-Bearing 

-    66 

Hebanon  (Henbane) 

Chlorosis       .... 

-      9 

Hemiplegia    ... 

Cicatrice  

26 

Hemlock       - 

Circulation  of  Blood     - 

•    61 

Hemorrhage 

Cold 

18 

Heredity  - 

Colocynth      - 

52 

Hospital 

Contagious  Diseases 

6 

Hydrophobia     - 

Convulsions 

-     ii 

Hygiene 

Corpse 

78 

Hygiene  and  Dietetics 

Cramps 

-    ii 

Hypnosis 

Curare       

59 

Hypnotics 

Cystitis 

-    28 

Hysteria 

Death 

4-20 

Illegitimate  Birth      - 

Death  of  Unborn 

-    46 

Impotency 

Decay        

70 

Indigestion 

Deformity  at  Birth 

-     43 

Infectious  Diseases 

Page 
67 

54 
72 

44 
62 
ii 

35 

15 
7 

17 
6 

39 
76 
60 

69 

4 
28 
24 
66 
14 

25 

7 

33 

7 
70 

60 
3 
9 

59 
40 

So 
26 
64 
30 
35 
72 
72 

57 
48 

12 

44 

31 

9 

16 


INDEX  OF  DISEASES  AND  SUBJECTS 


Page 

Page 

Infected  Joint 

-     25 

Plantain 

-         -    48 

Inheritance        - 

64 

Poisoning 

19 

Insanity         - 

-     33 

Premature  Birth    - 

-    44 

Insomnia 

13 

Probe        .... 

27 

Introduction           • 

ii 

Invalidism 

17 

Puberty 

.        -    63 

Pulse 

71 

Jaundice        -        -      '.« 

-       10 

Pupils    .... 

-        -    38 

Jurisprudence   - 

77 

Purgatives      - 

-     16 

Lance       -        .        »        » 
Laryngitis 
Leg  Presentation      -         *      .  ••- 

27 
-    3i 
45 

Quack    -        -        - 
Quickening 

-      21 
42 

Leprosy         -         *                 * 

-     16 

Reversal  of  Heredity     - 

-      65 

Liver 

61 

Rheumatism  -        -       >• 

7 

Love  Potions         - 

-    52 

Rhubarb    -        -        -        • 

17 

Lusty  Manhood        -        ••        - 

70 

Sark 

Malaria     - 
Mandragora  -        ... 

2 

-      52 

Salve    -        .  .      - 
Sciatica     -        •        •        - 

-        -     48 
28 

Measles          -        -        -  ••.»•• 
Medicine        -        -      •  <  •      - 
Melancholy        .... 
Menopause     - 
Mental  and  Nervous  Diseases  - 

-      7 

2 

35 
-    70 
33 

Scrofula 
Seaton  or  Issue    -        -    •• 
Senile  Decay    -        *        - 
Senna        .... 
Somnambulism 

-      8 
.    26 
ll 

17 

-       12 

Midwife     -        -        -        -     ,   • 
Miscarriage    -         -        -  .     - 
Music         -        -        -        -        -" 

4i 
-    42 
39 

Spasms          ... 
Suggestion         ... 
Surgery     - 

-           -      11 

57 

22 

Nervous  Diseases      -        - 

33 

Sympathetic  Disturbances 

-       14 

Nurse    - 

Syphilis     -        - 

29 

Nutrition  -    •    - 

62 

Obstetrics 

41 

Teeth  at  Birth 

43 

Occupation    -        - 
Opium       -        -        «        «        • 

-     17 

47 

Tent  or  Probe 
Therapeutics     • 

-     27 
47 

Ovariotomy   -        -      „  -        - 

-     28 

Twins        .... 

42 

Pain           -        -        *        - 

17 

Typhoid 

-      5 

Paralysis  Agitans 

-    40 

Typhus     - 

.        5-6 

Pharmacy 

47 

Phthisis          -        -     -  - 

-      7 

Ulcer  with  Infection 

25 

_      •     i  /^          j 

fSL 

TT    * 

.    18 

Physical  Cowards     ... 

O5 

Physical  Endurance 

-    68 

Physician  -   .  *  - 

77 

Vivisection    - 

-    49 

Physiology 

-    61 

Pia  Mater 

65 

Weaning  - 

41 

Plague  

-      5 

Wounds 

-      22 

30W-6/14 


pni 

w  /\ 


A     .  'fc.   rf~ 


